Love in the Time of Aids: Reading Questions
Beth Holl- Love in the Time of Aids Reading Questions
1) Why is it problematic to utilize the term race in a South African context comparatively to the United States?
During the apartheid era, people were "classified" as four different races: African, white, Indian, and coloured. These terms still linger in the vocabulary of South Africans and Americans alike. Although the South Africans are not using the terms to be "racist", per say, the terms can be taken that way by people here in the US. The main idea is that these terms are ever-changing and never mean the same thing to the same people. In South African context, that is generally understood, but it is harder to grasp here in the US due to our own culturally constructed terms of race.
1) How did the Zuma rape incident in 2006 demonstrate some of the differences in perception among South African residents…particularly in the press?
His rape incident offered a seemingly confusing response. The citizens that Hunter talked to, even many women, noted Zuma as being respected for having so many wives. No one hated him or shot him down for the "excuse" he used- essentially, that he was just an isiZulu man doing what an isiZulu man must do. The press in South Africa did not cast a negative light on his public comments, in contrast with the intense scorn of English-speaking press that covered Zuma's trial.
2) What is structural violence as identified by Hunter and what is the shortcomings of its application?
Mark Hunter explains that all of the inequalities that act upon the society at hand and drive HIV/AIDS are their own form of structural violence. The political-economic context that the concept is occurring in has more explanations than just those that cite behavioral explanations. As in, the politics of the whole AIDS pandemic struggles to focus on the real issues- like all of the tough inequalities that occur for large geographic areas. There is also the issue of genders. All of these things acting upon those affected with HIV/AIDS are a form of structural violence against them.
3) What is the materiality of everyday sex?
The "materiality of everyday sex" is one of Hunter's ways of helping us better understand the politics of AIDS in South Africa. Since unemployment has begun to plague the population extremely unevenly, it has 'changed the game' of intimacy. No jobs results in less marriages, and men end up being the ones earning a living to support a wife, who in turn is making a living in many different ways. Hunter also notes the trends in the whole realm of intimacy, like the increasingly-common boyfriend-girlfriend ‘gift’ relationship that involves material benefits for normally young unmarried women. These 'gift' relationships also involve feelings of love and a wide range of moral obligations. Mainly, Hunter's "materiality of everyday sex" refers to the relationships that have become more common due to the AIDS pandemic in South Africa.
4) What is the danger of a right-based campaign on AIDS?
The danger of these campaigns is that they don't take into account the "real" issues or the bigger problems that are fueling the pandemic. They also don't recognize the gender issues that are tangled in the whole pandemic as well.
5) How is gender used by Hunter?
He uses it as a tool that represents a social hierarchy that's formed relating to what we perceive as biological differences in reproductive organs, and the way this hierarchy caters to some but creates a big disadvantage to others.. (i.e., men being more powerful just because they're men- that sort of thing).
7) Explain the difference between romantic love and provider love.
The way I explain this difference is that romantic love is the "classic" Western sense where I would choose a husband and love him and have a monogamous and stable marriage. Provider love would be if I had a husband who paid a "bride wealth" to have me as a wife and my expression of love to him would be keeping up the house and being stable in that way. Less lovey-dovey, bringing home roses- although that has more meaning in romantic love- and more practical in a sense.
1) What is a jondolo settlement?
A jondolo settlement is a continually liminal type of settlement. It's a big mass of small shacks and huts that house mainly those whose jobs make them migrant workers. It's a big space full of permanently temporary homes for the migrant workers and their families.Often, these settlements are a testament of "industrial decentralization", where giant plants and companies that provide jobs are conveniently placed far, far away from urban cities..they know that the people will need the work and will go to it, so the people are drawn away from cities, or really anywhere they're not wanted. So in turn, many jondolo settlements are found near these huge factories.
3) Analyze Table 2.1 in terms of causal agents for HIV infection.
The table shows the placements of these settlements, where male migrant workers leave and often engage in sexual acts with other men, all the while women make sexual transactions to provide for their families at home. The distance put between the work and the settlements makes it much easier to understand WHY what happens happens.
2) Describe ilobolo and how it relates to hlonipha. How has ilobolo been cast historically in terms of gift exchange and domination?
Ilobolo is what we would think of as bridewealth or dowry. It has much deeper meaning, though, because it provides the foundation for a productive homestead for the wedded couple. Tradition does not allow for marriages without some sort of ilobolo- no longer the cattle that used to be exchanged. Now, men have to go work for years just to save up enough to pay ilobolo and marry a wife. Hlonipha relates to ilobolo because hlonipha is the notion of respect that a young person would have for an elder or a wife would have to her husband. This hlonipha helps maintain the social hierarchy especially in marriage. Its almost like the 1950's housewife idea, where the wife is supposed to be sweet, kind, bashful, not speak out much, and should always have dinner on the table when the husband gets home. It's not extreme, just a set of "respect"-based actions and expectations that come along with the marriage. Ilobolo can be thought of as the male version of this- he is expected to show his respect for the marriage by providing it.
3) Describe the Isoka masculinity.
Isoka can mean a man who has more than one girlfriend, a "player" of sorts, or just a boyfriend. It is a flexible term depending on context.
4) How are differences between amakholwa and amaqaba cast in terms of sexual practice?
It is essentially the placing of Christian values and meanings onto the "materiality of everyday sex" that Hunter talks about. It refers to Christians and Heathens, two ways to look at those and judge people in the name of God relating to their sexual realms and marriage as well.
1) What is the abanumzana and how does one account for the increasing number in urban areas?
It refers to men as the "head of the household" or the gentleman. Even when their actual household is far away as they are migrating to work, they are still considered the "head honcho" and have a flexibility to do what they please knowing that they still have that title because they still have their homestead, even though it's some distance away. It gives men a certain worth and feel of higher status.
3) What is the importance of umanyano?
It was the western/Christian notion that a woman must "stick by her man" at all costs because that's just how it was supposed to be. Remaining faithful in that sense had great importance that was stressed by the women's church groups in South Africa.
5) What were reasons for sexual violence between 1990 and 1994?
As male unemployment and the changing of the way households worked steepened, women became caught in the middle of it all, tangled in the web of complicated issues going on for men that led to the outlet of violence.
2) What is industrial decentralization and how was it employed in South Africa?
The most simple way to describe it was that big factories were getting paid to build their factories in wide open spaces (that were often homelands established in the 70's), which meant people who needed work had to move closer to it, effectively separating the "poor" from the wealthy and creating a liminal area for those drawn to work to and from the factories and industrial parks.
4) How does Fikile’s story illustrate many of the dilemmas of women?
It shows that women are now facing some of the problems men have been facing, but in an entirely different light: she had to provide for her rural homestead- the money she got from her "secret" boyfriend was often sent home. The way she talked about how she used protection with the "secret" boyfriend shows that she knew that she needed him for what he provided for her, but he was not "her man" like her main boyfriend who also gave her money and support. Women have higher domestic prospects in work and marriage can become almost unattainable for the poor, leaving them in a state like she was in where they must work and have boyfriends rather than waiting for a man to come scoop her up and start a more stable life at a homestead.
3) What are the four principal changes to the area’s social geography negotiated by Mandeni’s residents in the democratic era?
1- the amalgamation of formerly racially segregated spaces into one new municipality
2-movement of middle-class black citizens to the suburbs (which used to be just for white people and sometimes Indians as well), or just their children attending schools in these areas even if they don't all live there
3-There was a steep growth in imijondolo in the township and its informal settlements
4-new RDP housing projects were developed for low-income citizens
2) Describe and illustrate the 5 ‘rights’ asserted by Hunter?
1. The Right to Safe Sex and Sexual Pleasure - Hunter talks about the way that sex (and the terms used to denote it) have become less about bringing together a marriage or family and more about a woman's sense of self and how she is in control of her body. In this way, she has a right to do what she wants with her body, and to do it safely.
2. The Right to Consume- women SHOULD be able to benefit from consumer goods.They don't always, but they have the right to take advantage of the female consumerism around them. This "consumption" ca n also be translated to the body and to substances.
3. The Right to Live Without a Man- Some women want to be independent. It's difficult, but improving laws help women to standalone in society and be the heads of their own household. They are strong, independent black women who do not need a man.
4. The Right to Children- children are a part of "making a living" for young women in South Africa, so women have the right to choose who they will have kids with. It is less of a question of whether they will have kids or not but rather with who and when. They have the right to choose.
5. The Right to Multiple Male Lovers- It's the argument we hear in a different way over here: if men can do it and not be frowned upon, why can't we? It addresses the double standard (if a man has more than one woman, he's got game- if a girl has more than one man, she's a whore... but why?) The women address their right to have sugar daddies and multiple boyfriends.
1) What is the relationship between alcohol consumption, violence and constructed masculinity?
Men are faced with being a part of the stigma umnqolo (unmasculine rural man) where they can't get many jobs, leading to lots of anger on their part. This leads them to turn to alcohol and alcohol consumption can easily lead to violence. They are all connected by the frustration itself that comes from being a part of a stereotype that seems inescapable to these young men.
2) What is the importance of text messaging related to love in the time of AIDS?
Starting in the early 2000's, texting has become (not just for South Africa) a quicker, easy way of communicating. This has carried over into the context of love, where love is rapidly and quickly communicated over text. You can see a lot of that here in the US as well, with winky faces and flirty texts alike- but it has a different, deeper sort of meaning in South African context. It also makes love letters and anything handwritten seem much more valuable since texting is over the phone and so much quicker. It's like the difference between a man sending you a picture of a rose via text or actually bringing you roses. The love letter is a highly valued thing.
4) How does the large growth of shacks throughout South Africa speak to the government’s failure to engage a changing political economy and geography of intimacy?
Addressing the link between evident poverty and AIDS would mean they'd have to address the link between intimacy and AIDS as well, as they are all interconnected. The government is essentially turning a blind eye to the real problems like the severe lack of infrastructure as South Africa tries to play catch-up to be on the same page as other countries in such a quickly moving world. The state has a very ‘technocratic’ approach to how the government is run, and the state of the areas with countless shacks is just a testament to what the real problems are that need addressing. These shacks are a magnifying glass for constantly shifting issues in race, gender, and intimacy that are a crucial part in the pandemic of HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
