Browsing by Department "Institute for Humanities in Africa"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Africa, African-Americans, and the avuncular Sam
    (2004) Adebajo, Adekeye; The copyright policy of the journal allows sharing of published version after 18 months embargo period according to guidelines on Sherpa-Romeo [31 July 2018].
    This essay investigates U.S. policy toward Africa and highlights the role that African Americans have played in influencing this policy. It is inspired by the need for an urgent dialogue between Africans and African Americans on U.S. policy toward the continent. It begins by briefly assessing the ignominious roots of Africa's relationship with America and pan-Africanist efforts to liberate Africa from alien rule. It then analyzes the destructive effects on Africa of U.S. policies during the era of the Cold War. It criticizes the pernicious effects of stereotypical and simplistic coverage of Africa in the American media, and assesses U.S. policy toward Africa under the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. It concludes by offering some policy recommendations for a more enlightened U.S. policy toward Africa.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Forced sexual experiences as risk factor for self-reported HIV infection among southern African lesbian and bisexual women
    (Public Library of Science, 2013) Sandfort, Theo G M; Baumann, Linda R M; Matebeni, Zethu; Reddy, Vasu; Southey-Swartz, Ian
    Even though women who have sex with women are usually understood to be at no or very low risk for HIV infection, we explored whether lesbian and bisexual women in a geographical area with high HIV prevalence (Southern Africa) get tested for HIV and whether, among those women who get tested, there are women who live with HIV/AIDS. The study was conducted in collaboration with community-based organizations in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Data were collected via written surveys of women who in the preceding year had had sex with a woman (18 years and older; N = 591). Most participating women identified as lesbian and black. Almost half of the women (47.2%) reported ever having had consensual heterosexual sex. Engagement in transactional sex (lifetime) was reported by 18.6% of all women. Forced sex by men or women was reported by 31.1% of all women. A large proportion of the women reported to ever have been tested for HIV (78.3%); number of lifetime female and male partners was independently associated with having been tested; women who had engaged in transactional sex with women only or with women and men were less likely to have been tested. Self-reported HIV prevalence among tested women who knew their serostatus was 9.6%. Besides age, the sole independent predictor of a positive serostatus was having experienced forced sex by men, by women, or by both men and women. Study findings indicate that despite the image of invulnerability, HIV/AIDS is a reality for lesbian and bisexual women in Southern Africa. Surprisingly, it is not sex with men per se, but rather forced sex that is the important risk factor for self-reported HIV infection among the participating women. HIV/AIDS policy should also address the needs of lesbian, bisexual and other women who have sex with women.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Histories of forced sex and health outcomes among Southern African lesbian and bisexual women: a cross-sectional study
    (BioMed Central Ltd, 2015) Sandfort, Theo; Frazer, M; Matebeni, Zethu; Reddy, Vasu; Southey-Swartz, Ian; Southern African Lesbian and Bisexual Women Research Team
    BACKGROUND: Experiences of forced sex have been shown to be prevalent in Southern Africa. Negative outcomes of forced sex have been documented in general populations of women and men and include alcohol abuse, drug use, mental health problems, mental distress, sexual health problems and poor overall health. This study is the first to examine experiences of forced sex and associated health problems among lesbian and bisexual women in Southern Africa. METHODS: This study is based on data collected as part of a collaborative endeavor involving various Southern African community-based organizations. Lesbian and bisexual women in four Southern African countries participated in a cross-sectional survey, for a total study sample of 591. RESULTS: Nearly one-third of participants had been forced to have sex at some time in their lives. Thirty-one percent of all women reported to have experienced forced sex at least once in their life: 14.9% reported forced sex by men only; 6.6% reported forced sex by women only; 9.6% had had forced sexual experiences with both men and women. Participants experienced forced sex by men as more serious than forced sex by women; forced sex by women was more likely to involve intimate partners compared to forced sex by men. Participants who experienced forced sex by men were more likely to report drug problems, mental distress and lower sense of belonging. Forced sex by women was associated with drinking problems and mental distress. Having experienced forced sex by both men and women was associated with lower sense of belonging to the LGBT community, drug use problem and mental distress. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that forced sex among Southern African women is a serious issue that needs further exploration. Clinicians should be made aware of the prevalence and possible consequences of forced sex among lesbian and bisexual women. Policies and community interventions should be designed to address this problem.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    The Life of the Corpse
    (Taylor and Francis, 2009) Posel, Deborah; Gupta, Pamila
    This collection of six articles draws on contributions presented to the international symposium on The Life of the Corpse, convened by the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) in August 2008. The symposium in turn was the culmination of a thematic study group on the same topic. 1 The intellectual animus for both was an interest in considering the cultural politics of death, from the specific vantage point of the corpse and the challenges in meaning-making and regulation that the dead body presents. In particular, as organisers of these forums, 2 we wanted to foreground what we deemed the dualistic life of the corpse: as a material object, on one hand, and a signifier of wider political, economic, cultural, ideological and theological endeavours, on the other. The moment of death produces a decaying body, an item of waste that requires disposal – simultaneous with an opportunity, sometimes an imperative – to recuperate the meaning of spent life, symbolically effacing the material extinction that death represents. Every society, then, has had to face the question: how to reconcile the quest for a dignified end of human life, with a putrefying piece of flesh indistinguishable from other animals? This resource is a postscript of the final published articel, available through Taylor and Francis here: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00020180903381248