HIV/AIDS and discourses of stigma and denial: The interventive nature of music performance
Date
2014-07-25
Authors
Vokwana, Thembela
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Abstract
Discourses and general knowledge about HIV/AIDS filter down to the general
population through the authoritative language of science and medicine, but various
other role players also feature in such knowledge production. These include religious
bodies, governments, and the general public. Each has noticeable effects on how
HIV/AIDS is known, and more specifically, how those living with HIV/AIDS are
treated in society. In this research, I use (auto)biographical texts by Cameron, Levin,
McGregor and Steinberg as well as everyday talk, to analyse discursive processes
around HIV/AIDS in South Africa. I examine the effects of language used in
representing HIV/AIDS and explore how language contributes to the creation and
maintenance of negative discourses that generate stigma, shame, and denial among
those infected and affected. I then look at two films, one documenting the Mandela
46664 concert held in Greenpoint, Cape Town in 2003 which is captured together
with other documentary material on the DVD 46664: The Event (2004), and the other
called IThemba/Hope (also 2004), a documentary showing preparations of
Sinikithemba choir, Umlazi, to perform at the 10th Conference on Retroviruses and
Opportunistic Infections in Boston, USA. Through an examination of the music
performances and extra-musical aspects of the two films, I interrogate how the music
can be seen to constitute an intervention potentially contributing to a counter
discourse that helps to demystify HIV/AIDS in South Africa and destigmatize the
disease.