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>
> CFP: "Continuity and change in an era of HIV/AIDS"
> SCHAPERA Project Conference
> 30 - 31st October 2008
> University of Botswana, Sociology Department
>   Isaac Schapera (1905 - 2003) carried out extensive research on  
> the social, cultural and historical aspects of life among the  
> Tswana and other groups in the British Protectorate of Bechuanaland  
> that is today the Republic of Botswana. His work covered a vast  
> array of topics including, kinship, marriage and family life, law,  
> land tenure, sexuality, ritual, labour migration and the impact of  
> missionaries. Through his published and unpublished works, he  
> produced comprehensive and highly detailed material that to this  
> day has remained an indispensable source of information for  
> scholars of Botswana society.
> The 'SCHAPERA Project' was established in 1998 in the Department of  
> Sociology at the University of Botswana. The aim of the Project is  
> to facilitate a wide range of Anthropological research (in  
> Botswana) that includes revisiting Schapera's work and building on  
> that research. Over the past 10 years the project has engaged in a  
> variety of activities and hosted several research scholars  
> conducting Anthropological research in Botswana. As part of the  
> Project's ongoing activities we will be hosting a conference in  
> October 2008.
> Call for papers: "Continuity and change in an era of HIV/AIDS"
> Currently, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa have the highest  
> known rates of HIV infection in the world. Southern Africa, in  
> particular, can be considered as the epicenter of the global AIDS  
> epidemic. HIV infection rates have remained stubbornly high over  
> the past twenty years and have given rise to complex processes of  
> change at all levels of society. While in relation to the HIV  
> epidemic considerable emphasis has been place on 'behaviour change'  
> far less attention has been paid to the broader processes of social  
> change that both play a key role in explaining the dynamics of HIV  
> infection and are a consequence of the HIV disease, suffering and  
> death. In order to fight the epidemic African governments have  
> started to offer antiretroviral therapies to HIV infected persons  
> in need of treatment: a process that is in itself giving rise to  
> important changes with regards to health care provision, patient's  
> relation to biomedicine and medical pluralism.
> The prism of "continuity and change" appears to be a useful lens to  
> analyse the complicated processes taking place in societies that  
> are faced with the most serious levels of the HIV epidemic. Social  
> change in itself cannot be conceptualized as a once off process but  
> rather as a dynamic process that may be temporary or permanent. At  
> another level one process of change may give rise to or necessitate  
> further processes of transition and change. A broader understanding  
> of social change in an era of HIV requires that at the outset we  
> ask the questions what constitutes change and what specific  
> dynamics for change exist in societies with high rates of HIV/AIDS.
> Among the processes of social change evident in an era of HIV are  
> changes at a family and household level: household composition,  
> child-headed households, relationships within the family, etc. HIV/ 
> AIDS and its broad ranging social and economic impact also raise  
> questions about the Nation-state and citizenship in relation to  
> belonging and participation. Legislative and policy changes need to  
> be re-examined within this framework because they are inherently  
> connected to the capacity of Governments to deal effectively with  
> the disease.
> Thus in an era of HIV/AIDS we need to consider what aspects of  
> social change are temporary and what aspects may represent  
> permanent changes within society? And how is such change to be  
> managed? At the socio-cultural and institutional level social  
> change is not a homogenous process that occurs in all spheres at  
> the same time or to the same degree. Hence, debate around social  
> change has to consider where within society change occurs, at what  
> point in time and in response to what particular set of  
> circumstances. What aspects of society remain resistant to change  
> in an era of HIV and why do different degrees of resistance emerge?  
> What types of change has the HIV/AIDS epidemic brought to Southern  
> African societies?
> Additionally, we want to consider the place of Anthropology in  
> relation to HIV/AIDS -- and in so doing to consider how  
> Anthropology as a discipline can contribute to our understanding of  
> societies within which HIV/AIDS is a part of daily life and of the  
> context in which the processes of social change associated with HIV/ 
> AIDS occurs. In relation then to contemporary sub-Saharan African  
> societies this conference will broadly consider whether HIV/AIDS is  
> a useful lens through which to look at contemporary society. The  
> conference will welcome papers on the following themes: transition  
> and change in Healthcare and medical pluralism in Southern Africa;  
> family structures and household reproduction; citizenship, society  
> and the state; indigenous knowledge systems; and Anthropology and  
> HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa
> We welcome papers from a variety of disciplines and in particular  
> papers that seek to offer Anthropological insights into the study  
> and analysis of processes of social change in the current HIV/AIDS  
> era. Individual papers may address the broad theme of the  
> conference or focus on one of the more specific themes listed  
> above. We would also welcome submissions from individuals who may  
> wish to organise a specific panel around the conference theme or  
> sub-themes.
> Abstracts of 300 words should to be sent by August 15th 2008 to one  
> of the following: Fanny Chabrol <[log in to unmask]>  or Betsey  
> Brada <[log in to unmask]>. Please include your name,  
> institutional affiliation (where applicable), contact details and  
> where possible and email address with your abstract.  If you wish  
> to propose a panel, please include the title and an abstract for  
> the panel, titles and brief abstracts of the papers to be presented  
> at the panel, and the names, institutional affiliations (where  
> applicable) contact details and where possible the email addresses  
> of the panel organiser and speakers.
> Further details of the SCHAPERA Project can be obtained from:
> Dr. Treasa Galvin, Project Co-ordinator, Department of Sociology,  
> University of Botswana. Tel: 00-267-3552766, email:  
> [log in to unmask]
>
> -- 
> Betsey Behr Brada
> Doctoral Candidate
> Department of Anthropology
> University of Chicago
> Gaborone, Botswana
> Tel: +267 72 28 77 14
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
> ------
>

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