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Patriarchy, Christianity, and the African HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Rethinking Christian Marriage in Light of the Experiences of HIV Positive Women in Tanzania

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Patriarchy, Christianity, and the African HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Rethinking Christian Marriage in Light of the Experiences of HIV Positive Women in Tanzania Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2011 Patriarchy, Christianity, and the African HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Rethinking Christian Marriage in Light of the Experiences of HIV Positive Women in Tanzania Melissa Danielle Browning Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Browning, Melissa Danielle, "Patriarchy, Christianity, and the African HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Rethinking Christian Marriage in Light of the Experiences of HIV Positive Women in Tanzania" (2011). Dissertations. 279. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/279 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2011 Melissa Danielle Browning LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO PATRIARCHY, CHRISTIANITY, AND THE AFRICAN HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC: RETHINKING CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE IN LIGHT OF THE EXPERIENCES OF HIV POSITIVE WOMEN IN TANZANIA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN THEOLOGY BY MELISSA D. BROWNING CHICAGO, IL MAY 2011 Copyright by Melissa D. Browning, 2011 All rights reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank the women and men who participated in this study. They not only showed a willingness to be part of the project, but also welcomed me as a member of their community. I am especially grateful for Pauline Gasabile who served as my mentor and research advocate in Mwanza. Also, I am extremely grateful to the Diocese of Victoria Nyanza HIV/AIDS Support Group and for the women who gave of their time and experience to participate in the PAR portion of this study. Agnes, Christine, Domina, Esther, Grace, Jane, Jesca, Joan, Joyce, Maria, Scholastica and Veronica, you have been my teachers, and I thank God for each of you. I am also grateful for others who helped facilitate or participated in my fieldwork: Bishop Boniface Kwangu and the Diocese of Victoria Nyanza, Fr. Aidan Msifiri of Saint Augustine College of Tanzania, Shalom HIV/AIDS Support Groups, Catholic Relief Services of Mwanza, the Africa Inland Church (AIC) Clinic of Mwanza, the Mwanza Missionary Fellowship group, and my field assistants, Hellen, Immanuella and Mwasse. I would also like to thank the International Languages Training Centre (ILTC) in Mwanza who translated and transcribed the fieldwork for this research. I am especially grateful to my committee, Susan A. Ross, Aana Marie Vigen and Patricia Beattie Jung who provided invaluable insights in the writing process and also mentored me throughout my fieldwork collection process. I would also like to thank colleagues and friends who were willing to give advice on the project, read the project iii proposal or portions of this dissertation, and listen while I talked about the results. Among these people are Michael Schuck, Jacob Myers, Abby Myers, Jeanine Viau, Amber Unruh, Damaris Parsitau, Emily Reimer-Barry, Elisabeth Vasko, Eunice Kamaara, Edith Kayeli, Musa Muneja, Amanda Robertson, Andrea Hollingsworth, Josh Smith, Caroline Smith, Katy Annanasi, James Calcagno, and Japonica Brown-Saracino. I am also grateful for individuals who gave donations of supplies to help facilitate my fieldwork: Amber Unruh and Jeanine Viau, Laura Seay, Amanda Robertson and Dan Robertson, Christina Whitehouse-Suggs, Don Brown, Elaine Brown, and Mary Stephens. This project would also not have been possible without funding. Loyola University Chicago provided a grant for fieldwork supplies through the Graduate/Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program and also funded my work through the Advanced Doctoral Fellowship and the Authur J. Schmitt Dissertation Fellowship. I would also like to thank the Religious Research Society who awarded me the Constant H. Jacquet Research Award, which funded part of this project. I could not be more grateful for my family who helped at every stage of this process. My sweet soulmate, Wes Browning packed his bags and lived in Tanzania for a year while I collected data. Without his constant support, this project would have never come to fruition. I would also like to thank my parents, Don Brown and Elaine Brown who made sure I had “a room of my own,” and my brother Ryan Brown and my sister-in- law, Laura Brown who always found ways to encourage me. For this more, I’ll always be grateful. iv For Wes, my partner in the journey. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER ONE: “IT’S BETTER TO BE SINGLE”: THINKING ABOUT MARRIAGE IN THE MIDST OF AN EPIDEMIC ....................................................... 1 I. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 II. A Prolegomenon to Research: An “Interrogation Of Whiteness” in Postcolonial Space............................................................................................................................. 7 III. Fieldwork Methodology .......................................................................................... 10 A. Rationale for Location and Affiliations ................................................................. 13 B. Recruitment, Meetings and Participants ................................................................ 15 C. Participatory Action Research Methodology ......................................................... 17 IV. Women, Marriage, and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa..................................... 20 A. Listening to the Present: The Situation of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa ........... 23 B. Divining the Past: Colonialism, Christianity, and Conceptions of Marriage......... 26 V. Responding Through Scholarship: Global Feminist and Liberation Theologies...... 32 A. The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians ........................................ 33 B. Feminist Theologies and Liberation Theologies.................................................... 40 VI. Organization Of Chapters........................................................................................ 45 CHAPTER TWO: “LET’S TALK ABOUT TRUST, BABY”: HIV/AIDS VULNERABILITIES AND INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS ...................................... 47 I. Introduction: “Let’s Talk About Trust”...................................................................... 48 II. Let’s Not Talk About Sex: The Taboo Nature of Sex in Sub-Saharan African Societies...................................................................................................................... 50 III. Why Africa? Forces Behind the Sub-Saharan African HIV/AIDS Epidemic ......... 55 A. HIV/AIDS in Postcolonial Space........................................................................... 56 B. Traditional Practices and the Spread of HIV/AIDS............................................... 59 C. Poor Health as an HIV/AIDS Risk Factor ............................................................. 68 D. Poverty as an HIV/AIDS Risk Factor.................................................................... 72 E. Education and Risky Behavior ............................................................................... 74 IV. The Particular Vulnerabilities of Women and Girls................................................ 79 A. Biological Vulnerabilities ...................................................................................... 80 B. Economic Vulnerabilities....................................................................................... 82 C. Legal Vulnerabilities.............................................................................................. 84 D. Socio-cultural Vulnerabilities ................................................................................ 88 E. Global Vulnerabilities ............................................................................................ 89 F. Relational Vulnerabilities ....................................................................................... 93 V. Better To Be Single?: Agency, Autonomy, and Trust in Intimate Relationships..... 95 A. Relational Vulnerability: A Lived Experience ...................................................... 96 B. Intimate Relationships: Why Abstinence and Faithfulness Aren’t Enough......... 100 vi VI. Let’s Talk About Trust (Again): What Condom Advertising Can Teach Us About HIV/AIDS in Africa....................................................................................... 103 Characteristics for Loving Relationships.................................................................. 105 CHAPTER THREE: LOVE AND SACRIFICE: THE BOUNDARIES OF SELF AND CONCEPTIONS OF LOVE .............................................................................. 106 I. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 106 II. Agape, Christian Tradition, and Western Feminist Theology ................................ 110 III. African Women
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