Speech and song at the margins of global health : Zulu tradition, HIV stigma, and AIDS activism in South Africa / Steven P. Black.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Black, Steven P., 1980- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Transmutation (Linguistics).

Choirs (Music)--South Africa.

Choirs (Music).

Sociolinguistics--South Africa.

Sociolinguistics.

Stigma (Social psychology)--South Africa.

Stigma (Social psychology).

HIV infections--Social aspects--South Africa.

HIV infections.

HIV-positive persons--South Africa--Language.

HIV-positive persons.

Music--Social aspects--South Africa.

Music.

Zulu (African people)--South Africa--Social conditions.

Zulu (African people).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (227 pages)

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick : Rutgers University Press, [2019]

Summary:

Speech and Song at the Margins of Global Health tells the story of a unique Zulu gospel choir comprised of people living with HIV in South Africa, and how they maintained healthy, productive lives amid globalized inequality, international aid, and the stigma that often comes with having HIV. By singing, joking, and narrating about HIV in Zulu, the performers in the choir were able to engage with international audiences, connect with global health professionals, and also maintain traditional familial respect through the prism of performance. The focus on gospel singing in the narrative provides a holistic viewpoint on life with HIV in the later years of the pandemic, and the author’s musical engagement led to fieldwork in participants’ homes and communities, including the larger stigmatized community of infected individuals. This viewpoint suggests overlooked ways that aid recipients contribute to global health in support, counseling, and activism, as the performers set up instruments, waited around in hotel lobbies, and struck up conversations with passersby and audience members. The story of the choir reveals the complexity and inequities of global health interventions, but also the positive impact of those interventions in the crafting of community.

Contents:

Introduction

Conducting ethnographic fieldwork amid globalized inequities and stigma

The embodied reflexivity of a bio-speech community

The power of global health audiences

HIV transposition amid the multiple explanatory models of science, faith, and tradition

The linguistic anthropology of stigma

Performance and the transposition of global health ethics of disclosure

Conclusion

Acknowledgements.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

0-8135-9775-7

OCLC:

1124761727