EXPERIENCES OF CARE AS BOTH MEANINGFUL AND REWARDING AS WELL AS BURDENSOME

Get Complete Project Material File(s) Now! »

An Incomprehensible Calamity

The HIV pandemic has entered our consciousness as an incomprehensible calamity. HIV/AIDS has claimed millions of lives, inflicting pain and grief, causing fear and uncertainty, and threatening the economy. At the first South African National AIDS Conference in Durban in August 2003, scientists
warned that South Africa should brace itself for a rapidly rising AIDS mortality rate (Sapa – AFP and Reuters, August 5, 2003:5).

The Triple Oppression of Black Women

Black women in historically challenged communities in South Africa carry the burden of triple oppression: (a) the social engineering policies synonymous with apartheid have marginalized women economically and socially; (b) patriarchy, embedded in cultural, traditional, gender and religious discourses, has rendered women voiceless and powerless and (c) HIV/AIDS is targeting the most vulnerable: women and children. Not only are women carrying the brunt of HIV infections, but they also carry the extra burden of caring for the sick and the dying.

The Backdrop: Atteridgeville

The drama is set in Atteridgeville, one of the many townships in South Africa developed by the apartheid government for black people who migrated to the cities in search of work. (Atteridgeville is situated on the west side of Pretoria, the capital city of South Africa.)

The Décor: Three Adjacent Rooms at the Back of a Matchbox

House Front stage, to the middle, is a black building with a stoep. Two toddlers, a boy and a girl, aged three and two, are playing on the red stoep in the sun. To the right hand side is a concrete basin and an outside toilet in a zink hut. The front door of the black building leads you into a room with a picture of a smiling man in uniform against the opposite wall.

CHAPTER 1 THE DRAMA
1.1 THE SETTING
1.1.1 SOUTH AFRICA IN 2003
1.1.2 AN INCOMPREHENSIBLE CALAMITY
1.1.3 THE TRIPLE OPPRESSION OF BLACK WOMEN
1.2 THE STAGE
1.2.1 THE BACKDROP: ATTERIDGEVILLE
1.2.2 THE DÉCOR: THREE ADJACENT ROOMS AT THE BACK OF A MATCHBOX HOUSE
1.3 THE ACTORS
1.3.1 THE MAIN ACTORS
1.3.1.1 Five Women
1.3.1.2 Aids, Care, Injustice
1.3.2 THE SUPPORTING ACTORS
1.4 BEHIND THE SCENES
1.4.1 THE AUTHORS
1.4.2 THE PLAYWRIGHT
1.5 THE STORY
1.6 CHAPTER OVERVIEW
CHAPTER 2 LIVING THE DRAMA
2.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
2.2 RESEARCH AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
2.3 RESEARCH PARADIGM AND METHODOLOGY
2.3.1 A POST-MODERN EPISTEMOLOGY
2.3.1.1 A Shift From A Modern to A Post-modern Discourse
2.3.1.2 Post-modern Discourses
2.3.1.3 Language and Discourse
2.3.1.4 Power and Discourse
2.3.2 THEOLOGICAL STANCE
2.3.2.1 Theology
2.3.2.2 Post-Modern Theology
2.3.2.3 Practical Theology
2.3.2.4 Feminist Theology
2.3.2.5 Womanist Theology
2.3.2.6 African Women’s Theology
2.3.2.7 Pastoral Therapy
2.3.2.8 Narrative Therapy
2.3.3 LISTENING TO THE STORIES OF WOMEN
2.3.3.1 The Social Construction Discourse
2.3.3.2 “In Africa we do things together through stories”
2.4 METHODOLOGICAL PROCESS
2.5 RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2.5.1 READY, STEADY, RESEARCH!
2.5.2 NOT SO FAST!
2.5.3 THE TRANSLATOR/CO-RESEARCHER
2.5.4 THE PARTICIPANTS/CO-RESEARCHERS
2.5.5 THE REFLECTIVE GROUP
2.5.6 MY RESEARCH DIARY
2.5.7 A LETTER TO MPEKI
2.5.8 LITERATURE STORIES
2.6 CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON ETHICAL CHOICES AND CONSIDERATIONS DURING THE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
CHAPTER 3 THE SCRIPT: BASADI BA TSWARA
3.1 ACT 1: AIDS AND THE TERRIBLE TWINS
3.2 ACT 2: THE CAREGIVERS
3.3 ACT 3: A DESTRUCTIVE PARTNERSHIP
3.4 ACT 4: PREFERRED STORIES OF CARE
3.5 ACT 5: THE FUNERAL
3.6 ACT 6: AND THE WINNER IS
CHAPTER 4 TOWARDS AN INTERPRETATION OF THE DRAMA
4.1 THE NARRATIVES IN THE DRAMA
4.1.1 NARRATIVES IN DINA’S STORY
4.1.1.1 Poverty, peer pressure, parties, the church and prevention, pregnancy, guilt, AIDS and acceptance
4.1.1.2 Dina’s problem-saturated story of loneliness, fear, AIDS, care, religious beliefs stigma and discrimination, broken relationships and poverty
4.1.2 NARRATIVES IN NOLUTHANDO’S STORY
4.1.3 NARRATIVES IN MAMADINA’S STORY
4.1.3.1 Motherhood: A Narrative of Meaning
4.1.3.2 Motherhood: Problem-saturated Narratives of Care – Exhaustion, Frustration,Burdens and Poverty
4.1.4 NARRATIVES IN MPEKI’S STORY
4.1.5 NARRATIVES IN MY OWN STORY
4.1.5.1 The Research Experience: A Problem-Saturated Narrative
4.1.5.2 Narratives of Fear, Race, Repulsiveness, Frustration and Guilt
4.2 THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF CARE
4.2.1 UNDERSTANDING CARE
4.2.2 BURDENSOME CARE
4.2.3 MEANINGFUL AND REWARDING CARE
4.2.4 EXPERIENCES OF CARE AS BOTH MEANINGFUL AND REWARDING AS WELL AS BURDENSOME
4.3 HIDDEN DISCOURSES
4.3.1 PATRIARCHY
4.3.2 GENDER AND FEMININITY
4.3.3 GENDER, JUSTICE AND AN ETHICS OF CARE
4.3.4 CULTURE
4.3.5 POWER RELATIONS
4.3.5.1 Discourses of Truth
4.3.5.2 Normalizing Truths
4.3.5.3 Disciplinary Power
4.4 DECONSTRUCTION: EMPOWERING CARE
4.4.1 STORYTELLING AND LISTENING
4.4.2 PRESENCE
4.4.3 RESPONSIVENESS
4.5 THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW REALITIES: PREFERRED STORIES OF CARE
4.5.1 DINA’S STORY: “I LOVE MY MOTHER TOO MUCH”
4.5.2 NOLUTHANDO’S STORY: “CARING FOR SOMEONE YOU LOVE”
4.5.3 MAMADINA’S STORY: “MOSADI O TSWARA THIPA KA MO BOGALENG.”
4.5.4 MPEKI’S STORY: “LEARNING ABOUT CARING AND SURVIVAL.”
4.5.5 SUNETTE’S STORY: “YOU AND I.”
CHAPTER 5 CARING INTO EXISTENCE
5.1 “CARING INTO EXISTENCE:” A REFLECTION ON THE RESEARCH PARADIGM
5.2 “CARING INTO EXISTENCE”: REFLECTIONS ON THE METHODOLOGICAL PROCESS
5.3 TOWARDS A THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF EMPOWERING AND JUST CARE
5.3.1 A THEOLOGICAL DECONSTRUCTION OF GENDERED CARE
5.3.2 WHAT’S JUSTICE’S GOT TO DO WITH IT?
5.3.3 ‘EMPOWERING CARE’ AS PASTORAL CARE
5.4 COMMENTS ON THE RESPONSE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT TO HIV/AIDS
5.5 SUMMARY
5.6 SPREADING THE NEWS FOR CHANGE
5.7 CRITICAL REFLECTIONS ON MY RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
5.8 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH EXPERIENCES ON CARE

GET THE COMPLETE PROJECT
THE UNTOLD STORIES OF WOMEN IN HISTORICALLY DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES, INFECTED AND/OR AFFECTED BY HIV/AIDS, ABOUT CARE AND/OR THE LACK OF CARE