4 - On HIV, Sex and Respect: Local-Global Discourse Encounters among the Datoga ofTanzania
Corresponding Author(s) : Astrid Blystad
African Sociological Review,
Vol. 8 No. 1 (2004): African Sociological Review
Abstract
The topic of concern in this paper is the manner in which global/y constructed AIDS and HIV control messages are received by the Datoga of Tanzania. The text will rejlect on how messages on safe and healthy sex in national/global HIV campaigns are not in accord with Datoga concepts and practices aimed at ensuring proper sexuality and fertility, and the troubled eflècts of such dissonance. In an attempt to grasp the dynamics at work in the encounters between HIV prevention messages and local sexual concepts and practices, some central Foucauldian questions are asked, such as how and why sexual activity is constituted as a moral domain among Datoga. The substantial Datoga preoccupation with procreation is located at the heart of the argument. The discussion will reveal how Datoga sexuality is becoming increasingly troubled, compounding and accentuating the already severe uncertainties experienced in everyday lifè. The argument is o.ffered that unless communication about HIVIAIDS takes the cultural contexts that shape risk behaviour into account, such campaigns will fall on deaf ears, and may cause more su.f fering rather than less.
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- Beidelman, T. O. 1997. TheCoolKnife: /mage,yofGender, Sexuality, and Moral Education in Kaguru Initiation Ritual, Washington, Series in Ethnographie Inquiry, Smithsonian Institution Press. Blystad, A. 1995.
- Peril or Penalty: AIDS in the Context of Social Change among the Barabaig', inK.-I. Klepp, P.M. Biswalo and A. Talle, (eds.), Young Peopleat Risk: Fighting AIDS in Northern Tanzania, Oslo, Scandinavian University Press, pp.86-106.Blystad, A. 1999. "'Dealing with Men' s Spears": Datoga Pastoralists Combating Male Intrusion on Female Fertility', in H. L. Moore, T. Sanders and B. Kaare, (eds.), Those Who Play with Pire: Gende, Fertility and Tram formation in East and Southern Africa, London, The Athlone Press, pp. 187-223.
- Blystad, A. 2000. 'Precarious Procreation: Datoga Pastoralists at the Late 20th Century', Dr. Polit. Thesis, University of Bergen, Norway.
- Blystad, A. andRekdal, O. B. (eds.) 2004. 'Datoga',Encydopedia Of Medical Anthropology: Health and Illness in the World's Cultures, voL 2, 2 vols, New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. Broch-Due, V. 1990.
- 'Cattle Are Companions, Goats Are Gifts: Animais and People in Turkana Thought', in G. Paisson, ( ed.), From Water to Worldmaking, Uppsala, The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies. Broch-Due, V. 1999. '
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- -479, New York, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
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- Foucault, M. 2001. Sek,;;ualitetens Historie 2: Bruken av Nytelsene, Oslo, Exil. (Original title: L'usage des Plaisirs. L'histoire de la Sexualité. Tome ll).
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- Jacobson-Widding, A., and van Beek, W. (eds.) 1990a, The Creative Communion: African Folk Models of Fertility and the Regeneration of Life, Uppsala, Almqvist and Wiksell International.
- Jacobson-Widding, A., and van Beek, W. 1990b. 'Introduction: Chaos, Ortler and Communion in the Creation and Sustenance of Lîfe', in A.
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- Report of the Commission on Violations of Human Rights in NAFCO Wheat Farms Hanang District', Mimeo (Govemment Commission), Dar es Salaam. Kowalewski, M. R., Henson, K. D. and Longshore, D. 1997. '
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- Swift and B. Tomlinson. 1996. Pastures Lost: Barabaig Economy, Resource Tenure, and the Alienation of Their Land in Tanzania, ACTS Drylands Research Series, No. 7, Nairobi, Initiatives Publishers.
- Moore, H. 1999. 'Introduction: Gender, Symbolism and Praxis: Theoretical Approaches', in Il Moore, T. Sanders and B. Kaare, (eds.), Those Who Play with Fire: Gender, Fertility and Transformation in East and Southern Africa, London, Athlone Press, pp. 3-37.Nations, M. K. and de Souza, M. A. 1997. 'Umbanda Healers as Effective AIDS Educators: Case Control Study in Brazilian Urban Slums', Tropical Doctor, vol. 27, no. suppl. 1, pp. 60-6. Parker, R. 2001. 'Sexuality, Culture, and Power in HIV/AIDS Research', Annual Discourses on Fortune, Failure, and the Future', in D. M. Anderson and V. Broch-Due, (eds.), 'The Poor Are Not Us': Poverty and Pastoralism in Eastern Africa, Oxford, James Currey, pp. 125-46.
- Review of Anthropology, vol. 30, pp. 163-79. Sanders, T. 1998. 'Making Children, Making Chiefs: Gender, Power and Ritual Legitimacy', Africa, vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 238-62.
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- Implications for Research',AIDS, vo. 14, no. 1, pp. 3, 10.
- Rekdal, O. B. andBlystad, A. 1999.' "We Areas Sheepand Goats": Iraqw andDatooga
References
Beidelman, T. O. 1997. TheCoolKnife: /mage,yofGender, Sexuality, and Moral Education in Kaguru Initiation Ritual, Washington, Series in Ethnographie Inquiry, Smithsonian Institution Press. Blystad, A. 1995.
Peril or Penalty: AIDS in the Context of Social Change among the Barabaig', inK.-I. Klepp, P.M. Biswalo and A. Talle, (eds.), Young Peopleat Risk: Fighting AIDS in Northern Tanzania, Oslo, Scandinavian University Press, pp.86-106.Blystad, A. 1999. "'Dealing with Men' s Spears": Datoga Pastoralists Combating Male Intrusion on Female Fertility', in H. L. Moore, T. Sanders and B. Kaare, (eds.), Those Who Play with Pire: Gende, Fertility and Tram formation in East and Southern Africa, London, The Athlone Press, pp. 187-223.
Blystad, A. 2000. 'Precarious Procreation: Datoga Pastoralists at the Late 20th Century', Dr. Polit. Thesis, University of Bergen, Norway.
Blystad, A. andRekdal, O. B. (eds.) 2004. 'Datoga',Encydopedia Of Medical Anthropology: Health and Illness in the World's Cultures, voL 2, 2 vols, New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. Broch-Due, V. 1990.
'Cattle Are Companions, Goats Are Gifts: Animais and People in Turkana Thought', in G. Paisson, ( ed.), From Water to Worldmaking, Uppsala, The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies. Broch-Due, V. 1999. '
Creation and the Multiple Female Body: Turkana Perspectives on Gender and Cosmos', in H. L. Moore, T. Sanders and B. Kaare, (eds.), Tnose Who Play with Fire: Gender, Fertility and Transformation in East and Southern 1Africa, London, The Athlone Press, pp. 153-84. Burton, J. W. 1991.
'Representations of the Feminine in Nilotic Cosmologies', in A. f Jacobson-Widding, ( ed.), Body and Space: Symbolic Models c> Unity and Division in African Cosmology and Erperience, Stockholm, Almqvist and Wiksell lntemational, pp. 81-98.
Carey, J. W., Picone-DeCaro, Neumann, M. S., Schwartz, O., Easton, D. and St. John, D. C. 2004. 'HIV/AIDS Research and Prevention: Anthropological Contributions and Future Directions', in C.
R. Ember and M. Ember, ( eds.), Encyclopedia ofMedical Anthropology: Health and lllness in the Wor{d's Cultures, vol. l, pp.
-479, New York, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Devisch, R. 1991. 'Symbol and Symptom among the Yaka of Zaire', in A. Jacob son-Widding, (ed.), Body and Space:symbolic Models of Unity and Division in African Cosmology and Experience, Stockholm, Almqvist and Wikse!I International, pp. 283-302.
Devisch, R. 1993. Weaving the Threads qf Ltfe: The Khita Gyn-Eco-logical Healing Cult among the Yaka, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.
Dushay, R. A., Singer, M., Weeks, M. R., Rohena, L. and Gruber, R. 2001. 'Lowering HIV Risk among Ethnie Minority Drug Users: Comparing Culturally Targeted Intervention to a Standard Intervention', American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 501-524.
Foucault, M. 2001. Sek,;;ualitetens Historie 2: Bruken av Nytelsene, Oslo, Exil. (Original title: L'usage des Plaisirs. L'histoire de la Sexualité. Tome ll).
Heald, S. 1995. 'The Power of Sex: Sorne Reflections on the Caldwells' "African Sexuality" Thesis', Africa, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 489-505. Herbert, E. W. 1993.
lron, Gender and Power: Rituals qfTransformation in African Societies, African Systems ofThought, Bloomington, Indiana University Press. Hinderaker, S. G., Kruger, C., Olsen,B. E., Naman, N., Bergsjo, P. and Osen, O.H. E. 2001. 'Low HIV-Seroprevalence in Pregnant W omen in a Rural Area in Tanzania', Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, vol. 80, no. 12, pp. 1152-3.
Jacobson-Widding, A., and van Beek, W. (eds.) 1990a, The Creative Communion: African Folk Models of Fertility and the Regeneration of Life, Uppsala, Almqvist and Wiksell International.
Jacobson-Widding, A., and van Beek, W. 1990b. 'Introduction: Chaos, Ortler and Communion in the Creation and Sustenance of Lîfe', in A.
Jacobson-Widding and W. van Beek, (eds.), The Creative Communion: African FolkModels of Fertility and the Regeneration of Lifè, Uppsala, Almqvist and Wiksell International, pp. 15-43. Kisanga Commission. 1993. '
Report of the Commission on Violations of Human Rights in NAFCO Wheat Farms Hanang District', Mimeo (Govemment Commission), Dar es Salaam. Kowalewski, M. R., Henson, K. D. and Longshore, D. 1997. '
Rethinking Perceived Risk and Health Behaviour: A Critical Review of HIV Prevention Research', Health Eâucation and Behaviour, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 313-25.
Kratz, C.A. 1994. Ajfecting Performance: Meaning, Movement, and Experience in Okiek Women 's Initiation, Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press.
Lane, C. R. 199 l. 'Wheat at What Cost? CIDA and the Tanzania-Canada Wheat Program', in .. Swift and B. Tomlinson, (eds.), Coriflicts oflnterest: Canada and the Third World, Toronto, Between the Lines, pp. 133-60.
Swift and B. Tomlinson. 1996. Pastures Lost: Barabaig Economy, Resource Tenure, and the Alienation of Their Land in Tanzania, ACTS Drylands Research Series, No. 7, Nairobi, Initiatives Publishers.
Moore, H. 1999. 'Introduction: Gender, Symbolism and Praxis: Theoretical Approaches', in Il Moore, T. Sanders and B. Kaare, (eds.), Those Who Play with Fire: Gender, Fertility and Transformation in East and Southern Africa, London, Athlone Press, pp. 3-37.Nations, M. K. and de Souza, M. A. 1997. 'Umbanda Healers as Effective AIDS Educators: Case Control Study in Brazilian Urban Slums', Tropical Doctor, vol. 27, no. suppl. 1, pp. 60-6. Parker, R. 2001. 'Sexuality, Culture, and Power in HIV/AIDS Research', Annual Discourses on Fortune, Failure, and the Future', in D. M. Anderson and V. Broch-Due, (eds.), 'The Poor Are Not Us': Poverty and Pastoralism in Eastern Africa, Oxford, James Currey, pp. 125-46.
Review of Anthropology, vol. 30, pp. 163-79. Sanders, T. 1998. 'Making Children, Making Chiefs: Gender, Power and Ritual Legitimacy', Africa, vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 238-62.
Schaaning, E. 1997. Vitenskap som skapt viten: Foucault og historisk praksis, Oslo,Spartacus Forlag AS. Sieff, D. F. 1995. 'The Effects ofResource A vailability on the Subsistence Strategies of Datoga Pastoralists of North West Tanzania', Ph.D. Thesis, University of Oxford. Sumartojo, E. 2000. 'Structural Factors in HIV Prevention: Concepts, Examples, and
Implications for Research',AIDS, vo. 14, no. 1, pp. 3, 10.
Rekdal, O. B. andBlystad, A. 1999.' "We Areas Sheepand Goats": Iraqw andDatooga