Ethical Formation on the Threshold : A study of the implementation of HIV University in Mpophomeni Township, South Africa

Abstract

Oppgaven følger en gruppe HIV positive kvinner i Mpophomeni Township gjennom deres deltagelse i HIV University. HIV University’s mål er å fremme empowerment i deltagerne slik at de skal kunne bidra til forandring av de forholdene HIV positive kvinner lever under i Mpophomeni. Målet om empowerment innebærer at kvinnene skal gjennomgå en personlig utvikling. Jeg studerer derfor implementeringen av HIV University som et etisk prosjekt der indre forandring manifesteres i kroppslig handling. For å forstå hvordan kvinnene gjennomfører sitt etiske prosjekt, studerer jeg de praksisene som konstituerer HIV University som en empowermentmodell, og videre hvordan disse praksisene delvis gjør det mulig for kvinnene å tilegne seg moralske normer. Oppgaven er en deskriptiv analyse av den prosessen kvinnene gikk gjennom, og jeg ser på prosjektet i sin helhet ved å la kapitlene følge prosjektets ulike steg.

My thesis focuses on the efforts of HIV positive women in Mpophomeni Township to counteract silence related to HIV through their participation in HIV University. HIV University’s main goal is to foster empowerment in its participants in order for them to be able to organize and advocate for themselves, as well as improve their living conditions. The goal of fostering empowerment implies that the women will undergo a personal development, and thus entails an idea of instigating deep inner change. I study the process of implementing HIV University as an example of an ethical project of inner change being brought about and manifested in bodily acts. In order to understand how the women accomplish this ethical project, I focus on the practices that constitute HIV University as an empowerment model, and furthermore, how these practices, in part, enable moral norms to become integral to the participants’ senses of self. The structure of my thesis is determined by the dynamics in the process the women underwent. I attempt to give a descriptive analysis by focusing on the pilot project in its totality, and accomplish this attempt by letting the chapters follow the steps of the women’s training.