Seeking Refuge in South Africa: Navigating Power, Healing and Co-creation in Body-Mapping Processes

This paper refines the participatory body-mapping process drawing insights from a preparatory workshop in South Africa, the country of origin of the method. Widely used in trauma-informed research, body-mapping, as an art-based method enables participants to express embodied experiences through non-verbal storytelling. Responding to critiques of its cultural appropriation by the Global North, we engaged with scholars working with marginalised populations and/or in challenging research contexts to reflect on this participatory methodology. This paper details their insights on how to conduct body-mapping research as contextually grounded and sensitive to marginalised populations. The paper reconstitutes body-mapping as a relational and dynamic method where bodies, spaces, and emotions interact to co-create knowledge. This process reshapes power dynamics between researchers and participants, transforming body-mapping into a collective space for healing and resistance. Rooted in the South African context, the research honours the method's origins while actively exploring ethical ways to expand its potential for future use in forced migration research.