‘African Sex is Dangerous!’ Renegotiating ‘Ritual Sex’ in Contemporary Masaka District
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Date
2008
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Africa
Abstract
HIV in sub-Saharan Africa is predominantly spread through unsafe heterosexual contact. For a long time, the culture of African peoples has been presented as the cause of the high prevalence and incidence of HIV/AIDS on the African continent. Examples include Caldwell et al. (1989) and several Caldwellians1 who highlight traditional cultural practices, ‘the African system of sexuality’, and the values and attitudes of sub-Saharan Africans as responsible for the rampant spread of the pandemic.2 This article contributes to a body of criticism (including Le Blanc et al. 1991; Ahlberg 1994; Heald 1995; Arnfred 2004) of the Caldwellians’ positivist, deterministic, homogenizing and ethnocentric view, which assumes that culture is a concept set in stone – fixed, rigid and static. Furthermore, a Caldwellian analytical framework assumes that while culture has drastic impacts
on social phenomena such as health, sexuality and gender norms, these phenomena remain unchanging, dormant and stagnant. They neglect the two-way interaction between culture – in this case sexual culture3 – and health.
Description
Keywords
Ritual Sex, African Sex, Masaka District
Citation
Nyanzi, S., Nassimbwa, J., Kayizzi, V., & Kabanda, S. (2008). ‘African sex is dangerous!’Renegotiating ‘ritual sex’in contemporary Masaka District. Africa, 78(4), 518-539.DOI: 10.3366/E0001972008000429