Fragile yet unbreaking : an ethnographic exploration into young people's entangled experiences of traditional healing and HIV

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dc.contributor.advisorLevine, Susanen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorPentz, Stephenen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-12-31T19:31:23Z
dc.date.available2014-12-31T19:31:23Z
dc.date.issued2011en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 72-79).en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThe following study is an ethnographic exploration into young people’s entangled experiences of health and illness in relation to both HIV/AIDS and traditional forms of healing. The research employed a creative, didactic methodology based around a series of workshops conducted with two non-governmental organisations based in Grahamstown’s peri-urban townships: The first, Siyapumelela, maintains a focus on youth and HIV/AIDS; the second, Sakhuluntu, is a cultural group aimed at keeping young people off the streets. The argument begins by challenging the dichotomous relationship that is maintained between Modern Scientific Medicine and traditional forms of healing and calls for a dual standard system in which both epistemologies can be free to operate according to their own medical standards. The study explores young people’s therapeutic environments and tracks, in particular, how young people talk about and represent HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is discussed as a concept metaphor; a domain term that orients a person towards areas of shared exchange and meaning. It is clear that most young people have a well-informed biomedical understanding of HIV/AIDS, yet metaphorically, they see it as a dangerous and destructive force; an uncertain threat in the world. The research poses the question as to why young people continue to put themselves at risk of contracting HIV by exploring the social environments which many young people are subject to – environments that are often characterised by extreme social structural violence. The argument examines the nature of social structural violence as it plays itself out in the everyday lives of the participants and identifies the kinds of challenges that many of them face on a day-to-day basis. Due to fragmented avenues of support and conditions of domestic fluidity, many young people from structurally violent communities are left with feelings of vulnerability and insecurity. Alongside experiences of social and structural insecurity, young people also harbour a sense of spiritual insecurity that stems from the dissolution of the ancestral cult as a result of the historical, yet persisting, fragmentation and reorganisation of the African family unit. The research discusses a form of spirit possession known as Amakhosi that young people engage in in order to (re)gain a sense of security and protection from forces beyond their control.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationPentz, S. (2011). <i>Fragile yet unbreaking : an ethnographic exploration into young people's entangled experiences of traditional healing and HIV</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Social Anthropology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10695en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationPentz, Stephen. <i>"Fragile yet unbreaking : an ethnographic exploration into young people's entangled experiences of traditional healing and HIV."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Social Anthropology, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10695en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationPentz, S. 2011. Fragile yet unbreaking: an ethnographic exploration into young people's entangled experiences of traditional healing and HIV. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.risTY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Pentz, Stephen AB - The following study is an ethnographic exploration into young people 's entangled experiences of health and illness in relation to both HIV/AIDS and traditional forms of healing. The research employed a creative, didactic methodology based around a series of workshops conducted with two non-governmental organisations based in Grahamstown 's peri-urban townships: The first, Siyapumelela, maintains a focus on youth and HIV/AIDS; the second, Sakhuluntu, is a cultural group aimed at keeping young people off the streets. DA - 2011 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2011 T1 - Fragile yet unbreaking : an ethnographic exploration into young people's entangled experiences of traditional healing and HIV TI - Fragile yet unbreaking : an ethnographic exploration into young people's entangled experiences of traditional healing and HIV UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10695 ER -en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/10695
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationPentz S. Fragile yet unbreaking: an ethnographic exploration into young people's entangled experiences of traditional healing and HIV. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Social Anthropology, 2011 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10695en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentSocial Anthropologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectHIV/AIDS
dc.subjecttraditional healing
dc.subjectConcept-Metaphor
dc.subjectsocial structural violence
dc.subjectAmakhosi spirit possession
dc.subject.otherSocial Anthropologyen_ZA
dc.titleFragile yet unbreaking : an ethnographic exploration into young people's entangled experiences of traditional healing and HIVen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMAen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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