Swahili Brothel

On the Zanzibari archipelago in eastern Tanzania, there is an increasing flow of European tourists adding a quick "sun & fun" beach package to their African safari. Unfortunately, as this vacation destination has gained in popularity, so has its sex traffic. Though Zanzibar is majority Muslim, Tanzanian women from the Christian mainland migrate to the semi-autonomous island in hopes of finding a foreigner with expendable capital to help buoy the families they've left behind.

Strata based on the sex workers' language skills, which is generally in line with their economic backgrounds, form. Women from rural villages, versus cities, have little opportunity to learn Italian or English, so are unable to converse with tourists even for the cursory interaction required. This grouping, comprised of women unable to integrate new languages, must adjust their focus to the local African clientele, working under harsher conditions and for less pay. The economic disparity between "client" and "worker" often engenders motivational undertones of power, further exacerbated here by religious morality.

This project focuses on a local brothel on the outskirts of a conservative village, working and sleeping within its few rooms. Due to the traditional nature of the village, the women must wear hijab (head coverings) when leaving the sheltered walls of the brothel so as not to be further ostracized by the locals, though it is these very same men who are their main client base.