Zimbabwean secondary school Guidance and Counseling teachers teaching sexuality education in the HIV and AIDS education curriculum.

In spite of the importance of sexuality education and HIV and AIDS education in preventing HIV infections, Zimbabwean secondary school Guidance and Counseling teachers are not engaging optimally with the current Guidance and Counseling, HIV and AIDS & Life Skills education curriculum, and hence, they are not serving the needs of the learners in the context of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The aim of the study, therefore, was to explore how Guidance and Counseling teachers could be enabled to teach the necessary critical content in sexuality education in the HIV and AIDS education curriculum. A qualitative research design, informed by a critical paradigm, using participatory visual methodology and methods such as drawing and focus group discussion, was used with eight purposively selected Guidance and Counseling teachers from Gweru district, Zimbabwe.

What Does It Mean to Be a Young African Woman on a University Campus in Times of Sexual Violence? A New Moment, a New Conversation.

Sexual violence in the higher education is an epidemic of global proportions. Scholars conclude that the individual and collective silence that surrounds such violence enables its perpetration and that violence will only be eradicated when we break this silence. In this paper, we used two participatory visual methods (PVM), collage and storytelling, to explore what sexual violence at university looks like and what it means to woman students.

Community health workers as cultural producers in addressing gender-based violence in rural South Africa.

South Africa has been experiencing an epidemic of gender-based violence (GBV) for a long time and in some rural communities health workers, who are trained to care for those infected with HIV, are positioned at the forefront of addressing this problem, often without the necessary support. In this article, we pose the question: How might cultural production through media making with community health workers (CHWs) contribute to taking action to address GBV and contribute to social change in a rural community? This qualitative participatory arts-based study with five female CHWs working from a clinic in a rural district of South Africa is positioned as critical research, using photographs in the production of media posters. We offer a close reading of the data and its production and discuss three data moments: CHWs drawing on insider cultural knowledge; CHWs constructing messages; and CHWs taking action.

Researching to make a difference: possibilities for social science research in the age of AIDS.

HIV and AIDS is recognized as one of the most devastating pandemics of sub-Saharan Africa, and South Africa in particular, with adverse effect on individuals, families, schools, communities and society at large. Research is therefore required to provide a deeper understanding of the complexities of HIV and AIDS in order to mitigate the effect of the pandemic. Much of the excellent research that has been done has been undertaken within a positivist paradigm and has focused on the biomedical aspects of HIV and AIDS, as well as the social aspects of the pandemic.

Photo-voice as a tool for analysis and activism in response to HIV and AIDS stigmatisation in a rural KwaZulu-Natal school.

Objective: This paper focuses on the use of participatory approaches to research and intervention and explores the uses of photo-voice as a methodology and a means of promoting childhood and youth activism in the context of HIV and AIDS.

Method: Photo-voice, a visual participatory methodology, was used with 21 Grade 8 and 9 learners in one of three schools participating in a larger project, to identify, understand and interpret incidents related to stigma and discrimination against people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS, as well as the strategies proposed by the learners to possibly reduce stigma.

Results: Three themes emerged: awareness of HIV and AIDS, awareness of HIV-related stigma and its impacts, and acceptance of personal agency and taking action.