Dennis Francis

Between the Cracks: Out-of-School Youth and Discourses of HIV/AIDS

Out-of-school youth are particularly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS due to factors of poverty, lack of employment opportunities, low self-esteem and entrenched notions of gender. Many HIV/AIDS information campaigns are run through schools and, even though high profile prevention campaigns are broadcast through the media, out-of-school youth are beyond the reach of a structured learning environment in which they can discuss and ask questions regarding the information they have received. We investigated not only their views on HIV/AIDS, love, sex and friendships, but also how out-of-school youth talk to each other about these topics and the discourses they utilise. We also asked where they obtain their information on HIV/AIDS and how they respond personally to the challenges of the disease in their communities. Eight out-of-school youths were trained in basic research skills to carry out interviews with 32 other out-of-school youth in the Lamontville and Shongweni Dam areas in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The analysis of their conversations provides a starting point for informing intervention campaigns that address marginalised youth who exist “between the cracks” of HIV/AIDS education.

Emotions and pedagogies of discomfort: Teachers’ responses to sexual and gender diversity in the Free State, South Africa

AbstractEmotions are central to social justice work in education but receive scant research attention in South Africa. Our study explores the role of emotions in teachers’ approaches to teaching about sexual and gender diversity in schools in the Free State. Using in-depth interviews, we found that teachers experienced discomfort with the topic, had inherited bitter knowledge about non-normative sexual and gender identities, and experienced strong negative affect when discussing the topic. In many ways, participants unconsciously and unreflexively perpetuated heterosexism and homophobia in their classroom teaching and school settings. We conclude that the growing emphasis in educational policy in South Africa on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) learners requires a greater awareness among educators of the role of emotions in enabling or hindering this form of social justice work in education.

“See the Hope” - Using participatory visual arts methods to challenge HIV related stigma.

This article arises out of our specific involvement in the Hope and Healing Campaign, where we used participatory visual arts methods to engage a group of undergraduate students to address HIV related stigma. We detail the participatory visual arts method used; we offer a brief discussion on what emerged from the session and explore how visual arts based approaches can be used to challenge HIV related stigma and its associated prejudice and discrimination.

Youth as research fieldworkers in a context of HIV/AIDS.

What are the strengths and limitations of using out-of-school youths as researchers in a study of the relationships among young people of the same group? While youth-to-youth research approaches have increased in both popularity and practice, our understanding of the processes and mechanisms underlying the successes or failures of ‘peer researchers’ is still developing. The study addresses the question through qualitative research, drawing on observations of the process of training out-of-school youths as research fieldworkers, reflections on the interviews with respondents, and focus group discussions with the young fieldworkers. We found striking advantages to using fieldworkers who are close in their characteristics to that of respondents: these included ready access to respondents, the immediate use of language appropriate to the respondents, and an ability to swiftly establish rapport. We also observed striking limitations: the peer researchers struggled with the wish of some respondents to establish supportive friendships with them, they lacked the authority of an academic researcher, and they sometimes resorted to false promises in attempts to get cooperation. The main conclusion drawn is that, in principle, using youths as peer researchers is neither better nor worse than using professional researchers, but each approach can produce its own challenges and possibilities.

HIVISM1: A PERVASIVE SYSTEM OF OPPRESSION

This paper, structured in three parts, argues that the negative treatment meted out to people living with HIV/AIDS by those who are HIV negative or unaware of their serostatus, constitutes oppression. The writer draws on a qualitative study that explores the perceptions and experiences of nine individuals living with HIV/AIDS. In part one the terms stigma, prejudice, discrimination and oppression are unpacked. In the second part the writer describes the research strategy used to understand the participant’s subjective experiences of prejudice and discrimination. Part three integrates the voices from the interviews together with the literature and empirical analysis. The following themes emerged: (1) Negative labels and stereotypes, (2) Unprovoked attacks on person and property, (3) Institutional discrimination and exclusion, (4) Internalised HIVism (people who accept the negative views of themselves experience feelings of guilt, shame and self-blame), and (5) Horizontal HIVism (people living with HIV/AIDS direct hostility and mistreat others who are HIV positive).

RESEARCHING THE ROLE OF RACE IN YOUNG BIRACIAL ADULTS' IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION; EXPLORING IMPLICATIONS FOR TRANS- RACIAL ADOPTIONS

This article draws on the insights of research on nine Indian-White biracial young adults, and applies those insights to the transracial adoption debate. It thus does not report research on transracial adoption directly, but enters the debate on transracial adoption through using insights on the process of racial identity construction that challenge some assumptions prominent in the debate.