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‘Respectable Women’ versus ‘Small Houses’: Feminist Negotiations of Sexual Morality, Marriage and the Challenge of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 39; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03057070.2013.826069

1465-3893

Lene Bull Christiansen,

Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health

Abstract This article investigates the gendered cultural politics around HIV prevention in Zimbabwe through an analysis of feminist narratives of sexuality, marriage and HIV/AIDS. The analysis employs a cross-reading of three texts, including two novels: Whose Daughter, My Child? by Grace Mutandwa (2006) and The Uncertainty of Hope by Valerie Tagwira (2006), and a regular newspaper column ‘Let's Talk About AIDS’ by Beatrice Tonhodzai in the Herald. Written between 2005 and 2006, these texts reflect the social and cultural crisis of AIDS and the social and cultural politics of the Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front) – ZANU(PF) – government in power at the time. Although all three texts challenge and renegotiate cultural norms of sexuality and marriage in response to the crisis of AIDS, they do so from within a position of ‘married respectability’. This places their critiques in an ambivalent position regarding the institution of marriage and the cultural norms of respectability upholding this institution. I conclude that ‘respectably married women’ can challenge the norms of marriage only by setting themselves apart from ‘un-respectable, non-married women’ – women who are referred to using the term ‘small houses’, compared to the ‘main house’ of the married woman. Notes 1 B. Skeggs, Formations of Class & Gender: Becoming Respectable (London, Sage Publications, 1997); C.T. Mohanty, ‘Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and the Colonial Discourses’, in C.T. Mohanty, A. Russo and L.M. Torres (eds), Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism (Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1991), pp. 51–80; L. Haram, ‘“Prostitutes” or Modern Women? Negotiating Respectability in Northern Tanzania’, in S. Arnfred (ed.), Re-thinking Sexualities in Africa, (Uppsala, Nordic Africa Institute, 2005), pp. 211–32; H. Gunkel, The Cultural Politics of Female Sexuality in Southern Africa (New York, Routledge, 2010). 2 When referring to ZANU as a movement rather than simply the political party ZANU(PF), I draw attention to broader historical linkages between the party and various branches of the state and civil society. See L.B. Christiansen, ‘Versions of Violence: Zimbabwe's Domestic Violence Law and Symbolic Politics of Protection’, Review of African Political Economy, 37, 167 (2010), pp. 421–35; L.B. Christiansen, ‘“In Our Culture” – How Debates about Zimbabwe's Domestic Violence Law Became a “Culture Struggle”’, Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 17, 2 (2009), pp. 159–75. 3 The first national survey in 2003 found HIV infection in 24.6 per cent of all adults. In urban areas this number was 28 per cent and in certain rural areas as high as 35 per cent. UNAIDS stated that new infections decreased between 2003 and 2005; however, it is doubtful that this has continued, particularly in light of the social crisis and ‘Operation Murambatsvina’, which the UN estimates affected approximately 700,000 people, many of whom were HIV positive. See UNAIDS, ‘Evidence for HIV Decline in Zimbabwe: A Comprehensive Review of the Epidemiological Data’, (Geneva, UNAIDS, 2005); A. Kajumulo Tibaijuka, ‘Report of the Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe to Assess the Scope and Impact of Operation Murambatsvina by the UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues in Zimbabwe’ (2005) available at www.unhabitat.org, retrieved on 1 March 2006. 4 See P.D. Parirenyatwa, ‘Foreword’, The HIV and AIDS Epidemic in Zimbabwe (Harare, Ministry of Health and Child Welfare and The National AIDS Council, 2004). 5 E. Oinas and K. Jungar, ‘A luta continua! – South African HIV Activism, Embodiment and State Politics’, Development Dialog, 50 (December 2008), pp. 239–62; K. Jungar and E. Oinas, ‘Beyond Agency and Victimisation: Re-reading HIV and AIDS in African Contexts’, Social Dynamics, 37, 2 (2011), pp. 248–62. 6 As reflected in the national strategic response to the epidemic. See The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare and National AIDS Council 2004, The HIV and AIDS Epidemic in Zimbabwe (Harare, The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, 2004). 7 The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare and National AIDS Council 2004, The HIV and AIDS Epidemic in Zimbabwe (Harare, The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, 2004). 8 See S.W. Sinding, ‘Does ‘CNN’ (Condoms, Needles and Negotiation) Work Better than ‘ABC’ (Abstinence, Being Faithful and Condom Use) in Attacking the AIDS Epidemic?’, International Family Planning Perspectives, 31, 1 (2005), p. 38; S. Cohen, ‘Beyond Slogans: Lessons from Uganda's Experience with ABC and HIV/AIDS’, Reproductive Health Matters, 12, 23 (Special Issue: Sexuality, Rights and Social Justice, May 2004), pp. 132–5; M.V. Donk, ‘“Positive” Urban Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa: HIV/AIDS and the Need for ABC (A Broader Conceptualisation)’, Environment and Urbanisation, 18, 1 (2006), pp. 166, 175. 9 See A. Kaler, Running After Pills: Politics, Gender and Contraception in Colonial Zimbabwe (London, Heinemann, 2003), p. 179. 10 Ibid., pp. 179–80. 11 See A. Kaler, ‘A Threat to the Nation and a Threat to the Men: The Banning of Depo-Provera in Zimbabwe, 1981’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 24, 2 (June 1998), p. 348. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid., pp. 375–6. 14 See C. Summers, ‘Mission Boys, Civilized Men, and Marriage: Educated African Men in the Missions of Southern Rhodesia, 1920–1945’, The Journal of Religious History, 23, 1 (1999); D. Jeater, Marriage, Perversion, and Power: The Construction of Moral Discourse in Southern Rhodesia 1894–1930 (Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1993); L.B. Christiansen, ‘The “Good African Woman”, Bad Sexuality and Social Change in Chakaipa's Garandichauya (1963)’, English Studies in Africa, 50, 1 (Special Edition: Land, Nation, Self: New Critical Approaches to Zimbabwean and Rhodesian Writing 2007), pp.75–87. 15 See, for example, A.P. Cheater and R.B. Gaidzanwa, ‘Citizenship in Neo-Patrilineal States: Gender and Mobility in Southern Africa’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 22, 2 (June 1996), pp. 189–200; T.C. Nkiwane, ‘Gender, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism in Zimbabwe: The Fight against Amendment 14’, Citizenship Studies, 4, 3 (2000), pp. 325–38; F. Banda, ‘Women, Law and Human Rights in Southern Africa’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 32, 1 (March 2006), pp. 13–27; S. Ranchod-Nilsson, ‘Gender Politics and the Pendulum of Political and Social Transformation in Zimbabwe, Journal of Southern African Studies, 32, 1 (March 2006), pp. 49–67. 16 P. Made and N. Mpofu, Beyond Inequalities 2005: Women in Zimbabwe (Harare, ZWRCN & SARDC, 2005), pp. 3–4. 17 Banda, ‘Women, Law and Human Rights’, p. 17. Banda is here referring to other neighbouring countries, particularly South Africa; Nikwane, ‘Gender, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism, p. 326. 18 Nikwane, ‘Gender, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism’, p. 329–36. 19 Ranchod-Nilsson, ‘Gender Politics and the Pendulum of Political and Social Transformation’, p. 51–2. 20 See for example: L.B. Christiansen, Tales of the Nation: Feminist Nationalism or Patriotic History? Defining National History and Identity in Zimbabwe. Research Report No. 132 (Uppsala, Nordic Africa Institute, 2004); R. Muponde and R. Primorac, Versions of Zimbabwe: New Approaches to Literature and Culture (Harare, Weaver Press, 2005); R. Primorac and S. Chan (eds), The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, 95, 384 (Special Issue: Zimbabwe and the Space of Silence, 2006); K. Muchemwa and R. Muponde, Manning the Nation: Father Figures in Zimbabwean Literature and Society (Harare, Weaver Press, 2007). 21 Parpart, ‘Masculinities, Race and Violence in the Making of Zimbabwe’, in Muchemwa and Muponde (eds), Manning the Nation, p. 103; L.B. Christiansen, ‘Mai Mujuru – Father of the Nation?’, in Muchemwa and Muponde (eds), Manning the Nation, pp. 88–101. 22 A. McClintock, Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Context (New York, Routledge 1995), p. 359. 23 E. Ngara, ‘Vision and Form in South African Liberation Poetry’, in E. Ngara and A. Morrison (eds) Literature, Language and The Nation (Harare, Baobab Books, 1989), p. 64. 24 Christiansen, ‘Mai Mujuru’. 25 Ibid, p. 90–1; J. Parpart, ‘Masculinity/ies, Gender and Violence in the Struggle for Zimbabwe’, in J. Parpart and M. Zalewski (eds) Rethinking the Man Question: Sex, Gender and Violence in International Relations (London, Zed Books, 2008), pp. 181–97. 26 L. Attree, ‘The Strong Healthy Man: AIDS and Self-Delusion’, in Muchemwa and Muponde (eds), Manning the Nation, p. 58–9. 27 G. Mutandwa, Whose Daughter, My Child? (Harare, Amerdon Media, 2006). 28 V. Tagwira, The Uncertainty of Hope (Harare, Weaver Press, 2006). 29 The column ‘Let's Talk About AIDS’ by B. Tonhodzai in the Herald (selected articles between December 2005 and August 2006). 30 The Herald is the largest government-controlled daily, giving the column a widespread circulation. 31 See, for example, A.E. Willey and J. Treiber, Emerging Perspectives on Tsitsi Dangarembga: Negotiating the Postcolonial (Trenton, Africa World Press, 2002); H. Cousins and P. Dodgson-Katiyo, Emerging Perspectives on Yvonne Vera (Trenton, Africa World Press, 2012); L.B. Christiansen, ‘Yvonne Vera: Rewriting Discourses of History and Identity in Zimbabwe’, in Primorac and Muponde, Versions of Zimbabwe. 32 See B. Oxlund, Love in Limpopo. Becoming a Man in a South African University Campus (PhD thesis, University of Copenhagen, 2009); M. Hunter, ‘The Materiality of Everyday Sex: Thinking Beyond “Prostitution”’, African Studies, 61, 1 (2002). 35 Mutandwa, Whose Daughter, My Child?, p. 88. 33 T. Westerhof, Unlucky in Love (Harare, Public Personalities Against AIDS Trust, 2005). This book is edited by V. Kernohan from the Southern Africa HIV/AIDS Information Dissemination Service; E. Hwede (ed.), Light a Candle: A Collection of Short Stories by Zimbabwean Women Writers (Harare, Zimbabwe Women Writers, 2006). This book was published with support from Hivos and the National AIDS Council. 34 For an extensive analysis of this literature, see L. Attree, The Literary Responses to HIV and AIDS in Literature from Zimbabwe and South Africa 1990 to 2005 (PhD thesis, SOAS, University of London, 2007). 36 M. Ba, So Long a Letter (London, Heineman, 1989). 37 ‘Openness Vital to Fighting HIV and Aids’, Herald, 29 December 2005. 38 Herald, 17 August 2006. 39 Ibid. 40 Mutandwa, Whose Daughter, My Child?, p. 74. 41 Ibid., p. 32. 42 Ibid., p. 35. 43 Ibid. 44 Tagwira, The Uncertainty of Hope, p. 46. 45 Ibid., p. 83. 46 Mutandwa, Whose Daughter, My Child?, p. 27. 47 Herald, 30 April 2006. 48 Ibid. 49 ‘Do Cheats have a Conscience?’, Herald, 15 June 2006. 50 Mutandwa, Whose Daughter, My Child?, p. 68. 51 ‘Small House: One of the Top Igniters of HIV Infection’, Herald, 22 June 2006. 52 Herald, 10 August 2006 53 Ibid. 54 Ibid. 55 Tagwira, The Uncertainty of Hope, p. 79. 56 Ibid., p. 173. 58 Ibid. 59 Ibid. 61 Tagwira, The Uncertainty of Hope, p. 37. 57 Herald, 22 June 2006. 60 Mutandwa, Whose Daughter, My Child?, p. 67. 62 Ibid., p. 125. 63 Mutandwa, Whose Daughter, My Child?, p. 86. 64 Tagwira, The Uncertainty of Hope, p. 126. 65 Ibid., p. 69. 66 Mutandwa, Whose Daughter, My Child?, p. 56. 67 Ibid., p. 71. 68 For a further discussion of this gendered power relationship, see Christiansen, ‘Versions of Violence’ and Christiansen, ‘“In Our Culture”’.