9 research outputs found
Renegotiating cultural practices as a result of HIV in the eastern region of Malawi
A number of studies have shown that HIV awareness is very high among Malawians
and yet infection rates are rising. Local cultural practices have been identified as
contributing to this contradictory situation. Using data from 12 focus-group discussions
collected in Balaka, Zomba, Machinga and Mangochi, the paper explores the
reformulation of nine cultural practices as a preventive measure against HIV. The study
reveals that cultural practices that involve sexual acts for completion are mediated
through condoms and HIV tests. The study also shows that traditional herbs known for
healing ailments are repurposed to symbolise sexual acts. We conclude that the idea of
repurposing offers an avenue in which initiation and cleansing rites that involve sexual
acts are replaced by other semiotics such as a traditional medicine called mtela.
We also conclude that the modifications to cultural practices do not indicate complete
abandonment of associated traditions, rather, they constitute the renegotiation of
cultural practices and meanings associated with particular rites of passage. Lastly,
we propose that a comprehensive prevention programme needs to be part of a wider
national HIV-prevention effort combining a women and child rights and empowerment
agenda and, critically, lifestyle lessons in a process of cultural renegotiation.IBS
Manifesto for development communication: Nora Quebral and the Los Bantildeos School of Development Communication
How did the discipline and practice of development communication begin? Who were the founders and how were the first experiments implemented? Rejecting the ideologically populist views that locates development communication origins within western development scholarship, the following postcolonist exposeacute appraises various communication uses in development that emerged from different parts of the world in the past 50 years. The discussion holds that the pioneering development communication experiments were located between postcolonial and underdevelopment theories, and as such, to understand its origins, a study must focus on the earliest non-commissioned and community-originated experiments, as this study purports to do
Mother's songs: male appropriation of women's music in Malawi and Southern Africa
This study, informed by historical and socio-cultural studies into HIV/AIDS, examines the political and commercial appropriation of female music by males specifically in Malawi and, in general, Southern Africa.1 Once appropriated, this music is often used, via the oral public sphere, in ways that, politically and economically, impact negatively on women. It is here argued that while recognized factors perpetuating gender inequalities are responsible for this appropriation, factors within the power dynamics of female culture itself may be contributory. It is further suggested that this public sphere use of appropriated female music may significantly negate or subvert some formal, especially written, positive gender equality messages