Working Papers

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http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29131

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Browsing Working Papers by Series "CSSR Working Paper Series"

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    Alternative explanations about HIV and AIDS: re-examining distrust among young adults in Cape Town, South Africa
    (2014-07-31) Rubincam, Clara
    Alternative beliefs about HIV – such as the man-made origins of the virus or the existence of a cure – can undermine trust in and engagement with HIV prevention and treatment initiatives. It is therefore crucial to study the reasons why these beliefs are plausible to some individuals, and how we might better address them in future prevention and treatment campaigns. This study contributes to understanding these beliefs by examining the explanations provided by African respondents in Khayelitsha Township for the plausibility of alternative beliefs about HIV and AIDS. Drawn from a sub-selection of over 2900 respondents to the Cape Area Panel Study, ten focus group discussions (n=47) were held with African men and women from the township of Khayelitsha. Previous studies maintain that the experience of apartheid, of former President Mbeki’s AIDS denialism, and of the unsettling transformations of globalisation have negatively influenced the South African public’s trust in biomedical claims. This paper argues that in addition to these explanations, individuals express distrust about HIV science because certain aspects of these scientific explanations do not ‘add-up’, particularly when considered in light of their everyday observations and experiences. These disjunctures in information do not simply reflect a lack of HIV knowledge or rejection of scientific principles. Rather, in drawing on past and present experiences, individuals demonstrate their commitment to “street-level epistemologies of trust”, an informal manner of empirically engaging with science’s rationale. HIV prevention campaigns should draw on experiential aspects of HIV and AIDS to lend credibility to scientific claims and recognize that some doubts about science are a form of skeptical engagement rather than an outright rejection.
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    Choosing Care: Negotiating and reconciling interference in narratives of home births
    (2014-07-23) Daniels, Nicole
    While the literature on home birth emphasises women’s capacity to relate to birth in deeply meaningful terms, less attention has been paid to ‘interferences’ in this process. The extent to which women’s birthing needs are met relates to their capacity to make meaningful birth choices. By drawing on four case studies of South African home birthers, this paper examines the kinds of care which generate a sense of containment and continual relationship for birthing women, despite interference. Where home births validate and affirm the psycho-social nature of relational birthing subjects; being supported, being seen and being heard, translates into a social environment of care. Subjective interpretations of what matters most, narrated by home birthers in relationship with partners and caregivers, describe social environments which uphold safety, intimacy, connection, and agency. Homes are not controlled environments, so the inconsistency between narrated birth and actual birth experiences offers an interesting vantage point on the social contexts that generate empowered birthing selves. The care afforded home birthers allows them to create and maintain safe birth spaces, even as homes - bridges of public/private divides - intrude on relational selves. This research adds to an understanding of the consequences of women’s birth choices. By foregrounding interference, this paper highlights that choices (contested as they are) remain fundamental to women’s experiences of birth.
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    South Africa’s system of dispute resolution forums: The role of the family and the state in customary marriage dissolution
    (2014-07-23) Button, Kirsty
    In being a legal pluralist state, South Africa has a system of state and customary dispute resolution forums. This paper is concerned with this system of dispute resolution forums, particularly in how marital disputes relating to the dissolution of customary marriages are mediated and resolved. It is demonstrated, through drawing upon data collected for the purposes of a larger research project, that there are serious shortcomings which exist within this system. Such shortcomings include the operation of structural constraints which limit women in their ability to access state dispute resolution forums for support in marital breakdown and the availability of some customary dispute resolution forums which appear to be under-utilised by couples experiencing marital breakdown. Another possible shortcoming within the abovementioned system is the insufficient assistance that is offered by the state, to married couples experiencing marital conflict and breakdown. This paper argues that these shortcomings prevent equitable outcomes in marital conflict and breakdown from being reached. Consequently, such shortcomings contribute to women being rendered economically vulnerable upon the dissolution of their customary marriages as they are often left to deal with marital conflict and breakdown in the context of unequal power relations which exist between spouses. This paper concludes by discussing possible solutions that could be adopted to rectify the shortcomings and help ensure that gender equality is achieved upon the dissolution of customary marriages.