Bothwell holds a Master of Arts (by Dissertation) and BA Honours in Migration and Displacement Studies from the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS), Wits University where he is currently undertaking his PhD. He also holds a BSc Honours in Political and Administrative Studies and an Executive Certificate in Project Monitoring and Evaluation from the University of Zimbabwe.
His current doctoral research project is entitled “Cross-border Sex Work on the Urban Margins: The Politics of Access to PrEP in Gauteng region”. Guided by the Spaces of Vulnerability conceptual framework, the research aims to unpack the politics that shape and informs the undocumented immigrant female sex workers’ negotiation and navigation of PrEP access on the urban margins of Gauteng province. His project investigates the role of power dynamics and identity politics, race, gender and migration status in influencing PrEP access and utilisation among undocumented immigrant sex workers in Gauteng’s urban marginal spaces.
Bothwell’s broad research interests are migration and health, public policy, governance, social justice, humanitarianism, marginal spaces, identity politics, and subjectivities.
Read Bothwell’s MA Research dissertation: “Migrants’ Access to Health: Exploring the Migrants’ Interface with a Mission and a State Hospital on maternal health care provision in a Zimbabwean borderland”
Current and previous research work:
- Researcher at Gendered violence & poor mental health among migrants in precarious situations (GEMMS) Research Group (2025)
- Research Assistant (2023) on a project (core-run by the African Centre for Migration and Society (Wits) and the Department of Culture and Society, Linkoping University, Sweden) titled, “Immunity Passports”, Vaccinated Travel, and the Governance of Mobility across South Africa’s borders with Botswana and Zimbabwe.
- Research assistant (2019) on an IOM-commissioned research project focusing on the socio-economic contributions of migrants in South Africa’s informal and urban settlements.