1,720,987 research outputs found
Revealing the full extent of households' experiences of HIV and AIDS in rural South Africa.
Get PDFHouseholds experience HIV and AIDS in a complex and changing set of environments. These include health and welfare treatment and support services, HIV-related stigma and discrimination, and individual and household social and economic circumstances. This paper documents the experiences of 12 households directly affected by HIV and AIDS in rural KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, between 2002 and 2004. The households were observed during repeated visits over a period of more than a year by ethnographically trained researchers. Field notes were analysed using thematic content analysis to identify themes and sub-themes. This paper focuses on three dimensions of household experience of HIV and AIDS that have received little attention in HIV and AIDS impact studies. First, that experience of HIV and AIDS is cumulative. In an area where population surveys report HIV prevalence rates of over 20% in adults, many households face multiple episodes of HIV-related illness and AIDS deaths. We describe how these challenges affect perceptions and responses within and outside households. Second, while over 50% of all adult deaths are due to AIDS, households continue to face other causes of illness and death. We show how these other causes compound the impact of AIDS, particularly where the deceased was the main income earner and/or primary carer for young children. Third, HIV-related illness and AIDS deaths of household members are only part of the households' cumulative experience of HIV and AIDS. Illness and death of non-household members, for example, former partners who are parents of children within the households or relatives who provide financial support, also impact negatively on households. We also discuss how measuring multiple episodes of illness and deaths can be recorded in household surveys in order to improve quantitative assessments of the impact of HIV and AIDS
The dynamics of undocumented Mozambican labour migration to South Africa.
Get PDFThesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.Labour migration from Mozambique to South Africa is a historical process in Southern African region that dates from the 18th century. However, its formalisation and regulation took place in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, becoming a part of the Southern African labour market system. Within this labour market system Mozambique is one of the longstanding suppliers, with relatively consistent numbers of contract migrants for the South African mines. In the last two decades the number of contract migrant labourers for the mining industry in South Africa has declined. In contrast, there has been an increase in undocumented migrants from Mozambique to South Africa. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the dynamics of undocumented labour migration to South Africa. The undocumented migrants are mostly male youths from rural areas of southern Mozambique who are pushed by poverty and lack of employment conditions. They enter into the South Africa pulled by a demand for cheap unskilled labour, and they work mainly in the agriculture, construction, informal trade and domestic sector. Their aim is to send or carry back home remittances in cash or kind. However, the presence of undocumented Mozambican immigrants, as well as those from other parts of Southern Africa, has given cause for concern. There is social pressure in South Africa, where in some circles the undocumented migrants are seen as taking jobs from locals, which leads to xenophobic attitudes. The South African government has been forced to adopt restrictive measures, including the repatriation or deportation of undocumented immigrants. Notwithstanding the undocumented migration from Mozambique continues to increase. Findings from the fieldwork in Mozambique and South Africa, obtained through both quantitative and qualitative approaches, confirmed that the undocumented Mozambican labour migration to South Africa was a self-sustaining process through social networks, which helped in the process of adjustment and also allowed migrants to make multiple entries into South Africa. The study concludes that stopping undocumented migration requires the creation of job opportunities in migrant sending areas, particularly in the rural areas, so that people can be employed locally, reducing their dependency on migrant labour. In addition, policies are required that encourage migrants to organize in order to be involved productively in development projects of their communities
Demonizing women in the era of AIDS: an analysis of the gendered construction of HIV/AIDS in KwaZulu-Natal.
Get PDFThesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1999.As the second decade of AIDS draws to a close, researchers and others
involved in the AIDS effort have come to appreciate that complex interactions between social, cultural, biological and economic forces are involved in shaping the epidemiological course of the disease. Nevertheless, the process by which these variables interact and affect each other remains poorly understood, with many of the shaping forces yet to be fully explored. In South Africa, the sociocultural matrix in which the AIDS epidemic is embedded and its role in shaping the interpretation and experience of AIDS have not been fully analyzed. This thesis represents an attempt to elucidate the finer nuances of some commonly-held local beliefs, perceptions, symbolic representations, ethnomedical explanatory models and mythologies associated with AIDS. These associations are viewed as directly informing the way in which Zulu-speaking people are experiencing and responding to HIV/AIDS in KwaZulu Natal, currently home to 1/3 of the country's estimated 3 million HIV infected people. In particular, the focus is on the gender patterning of AIDS, with ethnographic data drawn from extensive field experience at St Wendolin's Mission, a peri-urban settlement in the Marianhill district of Durban. The shared perception of women as naturally 'dirty', as sexually 'out of control' and suspected of using witchcraft in new ways, are identified and discussed as key
conceptual strands contributing to the sociocultural construction of HIV/AIDS in that community. It is argued that these notions are metaphorically joining and combining in ways that 'gender' the AIDS epidemic and simultaneously 'demonize' women. The central tenet of this thesis is that HIV/AIDS is fundamentally associated with women as a female caused and transmitted disease that can and does affect men. The author argues that the gendered construction of AIDS in St Wendolin's is a reflection of patriarchal resistance to women's changing roles and expectations that represent an overstepping of culturally defined moral
boundaries. Deeply embedded ways of thinking associated with notions of
gender are viewed as germane to the disempowerment of women that
ultimately impedes the fight against HIV/AIDS. The thesis concludes with a
discussion on the opportunity which the current AIDS epidemic presents for
wider sociocultural transformation, and how this might be achieved through an AIDS 'education for liberation' based on the philosophies of Paulo Freire
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Building partnerships for HIV and AIDS management in a deep rural community in South Africa.
Get PDFThesis (Ph.D.)-Universtiy of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.The importance of partnerships between marginalised communities and support agencies (from the public sector, private sector and civil society) is a pillar of HIV & AIDS management policy. Such alliances are notoriously difficult to promote and sustain. The thesis presents the findings from a longitudinal, qualitative case study of a project seeking to build partnerships to facilitate local responses to HIV & AIDS in a remote rural community in South Africa. The partnership aimed to empower community stakeholders to lead HIV-prevention and AIDS-care efforts through the support of local government departments, NGOs and the private-sector, and make public services more responsive to local needs. I highlight the value of building longterm relationships with, and ownership of the project by community stakeholders, i/ by involving community stakeholders in partnership building and facilitation from the very beginning of the process, and; ii/ through a compliance with, and respect for community protocols and norms in the process of entry, community engagement, and partnership facilitation. I illustrate how features of the local public sector environment have actively worked against effective community empowerment and partnership. These include a rigid hierarchy, poor communication between senior and junior health professionals, lack of accountability, limited social development skills, and the demoralisation and/or exhaustion of public servants dealing with multiple social problems in under-resourced settings. I outline the obstacles that have prevented private-sector involvement, suggesting a degree of scepticism about the potential for private-sector contributions to development in remote areas. The most effective partners have been the NGOs — run by committed individuals with a keen understanding of social-development principles, flexible working styles and a willingness to work hard for small gains. Despite the challenges, the partnership has achieved many positive outcomes, including the formalization of the partnership and its institutionalization within a permanent government structure. I outline these achievements and discuss the essential role played by an external change agent in facilitating the process of partnership building. I conclude with eight key lessons learnt and recommendations which emerged out of the research. Firstly, partnerships are embedded in and influenced by the contexts within which they are located; secondly, stakeholder organizations must create an enabling environment to encourage and sustain partnership participation; thirdly, capacity building and empowerment of partners is crucial for ensuring ownership and sustainability of the partnership; fourthly, partnerships within resource (human and physical) poor contexts like Entabeni, where skills and resources are scarce, require the services of a dedicated, skilled facilitator or external change agent; fifth, partnership building needs to be guided by regular monitoring and evaluation and a systematic documentation of the process; sixth, relationships based on trust are a central pillar of partnerships; seventh, partnerships are as much about individuals as they are about communities and organizations, and; finally, partnerships can and do work, in-spite of the many challenges that may be encountered. of partnerships between marginalised communities and suppor
HIV/AIDS risk among international migrants working in the South African informal economy : case studies of Nigerian men.
No full textThesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.In recent years, South Africa has attracted migrants from other African countries, many of whom find work in the informal sector of the economy. At the same time, African migrants elsewhere in Europe and the US have been shown to have higher rates of HIV infection than the general population. In South Africa, however, little is known about the vulnerability of international
migrants to HIV infection. This study explored HIV/AIDS risks among informal economy migrants in the broader context of migration. The objective is to explore HIV/AIDS risk among migrants and to understand how migration experiences shape vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. This is a case study of ten Nigerian migrant traders in the Church Walk flea market in Durban. Ethnographic methods such as participant observation, individual and key informant interviews, as well as informal group discussion were used to collect in-depth data on migrants' motivations for migrating, challenges faced upon arriving in South Africa and sexual risk behaviours. It was found that migrants become vulnerable to HIV/AIDS both during the process of migration and once settled in the informal economy. Migrants found it difficult to secure jobs once in South Africa. Consequently, they had to deal with disillusionment, hunger, homelessness and hopelessness. During this period of hardship, migrants indulged in risky sexual practices such as having unprotected sex with casual partners as a means of dealing with their precarious situation. Migrants also had unprotected sex with many regular and casual partners once in the flea market where, as a last resort, they had found self-employment but had no access to HIV/AIDS intervention programmes. Reasons cited for risky sexual behaviour included separation from regular partners, loneliness, sexual pressures and the lack of social sanctions, which regulated sexual behaviour in their home country. The findings show that international migrants in the informal economy are a potential high-risk group for HIV infection and could transmit HIV to local partners as well as regular partners in their home country. This study highlights the need for interventions to reach this population
Changing patterns of Black marriage and divorce in Durban.
No full textThesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1984.No abstract available
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