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Handbook of Quality of Life in African Societies pp 239–253Cite as

Humanising Silence: The Representation of HIV & AIDS in South African Narratives

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Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life ((IHQL))

Abstract

This chapter focuses on an analysis of HIV & AIDS and its representation in South African autobiographical narratives produced in the post-apartheid context. The chapter will zoom in on a selection of texts (largely memoirs, journals and general life writing) that provide perspectives on representations of living with and through the HI virus and AIDS to show resistances to silence and denial. The chapter centres on a descriptive reading of selected texts as representations of a social world in the way authors engage disclosure, sexuality, and identity in relation to how these narratives bear witness to the complexities of disease and its’ modalities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    There is a growing body of writing in the African context. This chapter does not provide a comprehensive representation of the texts but references these in abbreviation in this note. See for example, Attree (2010), Coovadia (2009), Dow and Essex (2011), Greene (2005), Koch (2002), Moele (2009), Morgan and the Bambanani Women’s Group (2003), Mpe (2001), Nolen (2008), Odhiambo (2017), and Steinberg (2008)

  2. 2.

    It should be noted that the Zuma presidency was riddled, beyond the accusations of corruption related to state entities and resources, by much controversy, in part related to HIV and AIDS. In the preceding 2 years leading to his appointment as president of the African National Congress, he was charged with rape in the Johannesburg High Court on 6 December 2005. On 8 May 2006, the Court dismissed the charges, agreeing that the sexual act in question was consensual. During the rape trial in 2006 Zuma told the court during cross-examination (he was accused of raping Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo (known in court proceedings ‘Khwezi’), an HIV positive woman that he showered rather than worn a condom to ward off the risk of HIV. The statement revealed that Zuma had been taking regular HIV tests, and for him showering entailed a form of hygiene, keeping clean that held the prospect of risk reduction which goes against the grain of scientific evidence. Inspite of his views Zuma supported disclosure and launched several scaled-up counselling and testing campaigns to stem the spread of the epidemic during his presidency. See also Motsei (2007), Reddy and Potgieter (2006), and Suttner (2009).

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  1. University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Vasu Reddy

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  1. Vasu Reddy
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  1. Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Irma Eloff

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Reddy, V. (2019). Humanising Silence: The Representation of HIV & AIDS in South African Narratives. In: Eloff, I. (eds) Handbook of Quality of Life in African Societies. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15367-0_12

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