Deakin Sociology doctoral candidate Laura Gobey is exploring the aspirations of young African migrant women in her study titled Imagined Futures: the lives and aspirations of young African migrant women in Australia. The study seeks to investigate the lives and aspirations of young African migrant women in Melbourne, between the ages of 18 to 25 years. As a young woman herself from a South African background, Laura is motivated to find out what matters to these young women when it comes to how they envision their futures as well as create new knowledge on the African community in Australia.

The project takes a unique approach by using digital platforms for participants to record and reflect on their aspirations. As Laura explains it, “ The young women in my study are encouraged to take photographs of their current realities and of those things that symbolise their aspirations and upload them into their own online diary. The photos and words that make up each participant’s online diary will then be used as the basis for personal interviews with each participant. This research technique combines what sociologists call the diary-interview method and photo-interview/photo-elicitation method”.

Laura is currently looking for participants to be involved in this innovative project. Participants will be asked to keep an online photo-diary for a week, followed by an informal interview. There is a $20 Coles-Myer voucher for each participant at the completion of the study, so spread the word!
You can contact Laura on [email protected]