1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910457505403321

Autore

McNeill Fraser G. <1977->

Titolo

AIDS, politics, and music in South Africa / / Fraser G. McNeill [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2011

ISBN

1-107-22216-8

1-139-12507-9

1-283-34206-5

9786613342065

1-139-12365-3

1-139-11354-2

1-139-12856-6

1-139-11573-1

1-139-11790-4

0-511-84258-9

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xxv, 278 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

The International African library ; ; 42

Disciplina

362.196/97920096

Soggetti

HIV infections - South Africa - Prevention

HIV infections - Social aspects - South Africa

Music - South Africa

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: AIDS, politics and music -- The battle for Venda kingship -- A rite to AIDS education? Venda girls' initiation, HIV prevention, and the politics of knowledge -- 'We want a job in the government': motivation and mobility in HIV/AIDS peer education -- 'We sing about what we cannot talk about': biomedical knowledge in stanza -- Guitar songs and sexy women: a folk cosmology of AIDS -- 'Condoms cause AIDS': poison, prevention, and degrees of separation -- Conclusion -- Appendix A: songs on accompanying web site -- Appendix B: 'Zwidzumbe' (secrets) -- Appendix C: AIDS, AIDS, AIDS.

Sommario/riassunto

This book offers an original anthropological approach to the AIDS epidemic in South Africa, demonstrating why AIDS interventions in the



former homeland of Venda have failed - and possibly even been counterproductive. It does so through a series of ethnographic encounters, from kings to condoms, which expose the ways in which biomedical understanding of the virus have been rejected by - and incorporated into - local understandings of health, illness, sex and death. Through the songs of female initiation, AIDS education and wandering minstrels, the book argues that music is central to understanding how AIDS interventions operate. This book elucidates a hidden world of meaning in which people sing about what they cannot talk about, where educators are blamed for spreading the virus, and in which condoms are often thought to cause AIDS. The policy implications are clear: African worldviews must be taken seriously if AIDS interventions in Africa are to become successful.