See the attached abstract below

Thesis (PhD)--University of Limpopo, 2010. / The role of indigenous healers and spiritual faith healers in managing various conditions of ill-health has been studied and debated. The aim of this study was to determine how indigenous healers and spiritual faith healers understand and define HIV/AIDS stigma and to explore the role that indigenous healers and faith healers play in reducing or reinforcing HIV/AIDS stigma in their communities. In this study, a qualitative approach and in particular, the grounded theory methodology was used. Grounded theory is described as a research method in which theory is developed from data, rather than the other way round. The application of this methodology included personal interviews with thirty-nine practising indigenous healers and spiritual faith healers in the Limpopo Province, while additional information was gleaned from the literature review. The researcher focused on the participants‟ conceptualisation of HIV stigma, from the context of the African world view in order to gain insight into their roles as healers. The findings indicate that indigenous healers‟ cultural beliefs prevented them from having a deeper understanding of HIV stigma when compared to the faith healers. Indigenous healers were generally found to have a positive attitude towards People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA), while spiritual faith healers showed a less positive attitude towards PLWA. The study further found that „HIV secrecy clause‟ contained in the South African National Policy on HIV/AIDS for Learners and Educators (August 1999) prevents traditional and spiritual faith healers, the affected and infected, the family and society at large from disclosing the HIV status of those infected. It is suggested that the tendency not to disclose has the potential to encourage stigmatization and discrimination whilst at the same time hindering efforts to find solutions to the problem. The study is concluded by suggesting that HIV testing must be compulsory for every person who consults in a hospital. Such a policy move could contribute positively in terms of health promotion. / Medical Research Council

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:31:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Vania Vaz.pdf: 1092344 bytes, checksum: 9f84934ce923a4fe0bf42a63bde54108 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-06-09 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This research, "Faith Healers: their life experiences and the life of healing", is a narrative study of some Faith Healers who reside in the city of Irati, located in the Central-Southern region of Paraná State. The objectives of this project are the reflection about different aspects of these women s life experiences, the influence of their social relations in the development of their practices, as well as the representation of their multiple actions, which include the Faith Healers daily lives, their personal views, and their particular way of interpreting the universe, which involves the healing rituals. Such a universe is marked by demonstrations of religiousness and faith, which can also include other actions: the discovery and/or development of the Gift, connections with protective divine entities, the development of specific rituals, besides the meaning of the Christian and social roles performed by the healers in their service, which are interpreted in a particular way by each one of the possessors of the Gift of Healing. / Esta pesquisa, " As benzedeiras da cidade de Irati: suas experiências com o mundo, e o mundo da benzeção ", é um estudo de narrativas de algumas benzedeiras residentes na cidade de Irati, localizada na Região Centro-Sul do Estado do Paraná. Os objetivos deste trabalho consistem na reflexão sobre diferentes aspectos da experiência de vida dessas mulheres, a influência de suas relações sociais no desenvolvimento de suas práticas, bem como a apresentação das múltiplas ações que envolvem o cotidiano das benzedeiras, suas visões pessoais e seu modo particular de interpretação do universo que envolve os rituais de benzeção. Tal universo é pautado por demonstrações de religiosidade e fé, que inclusive chegam a compreender outras ações: a descoberta e/ou o desenvolvimento do " Dom ", relações com entidades divinas protetoras, o desenvolvimento de rituais específicos, além do sentido dos papéis social e cristão exercidos pelas benzedeiras em seu ofício, os quais são interpretados de maneira peculiar por cada uma das possuidoras do "Dom de Benzer"

The Rathwa of Kadipani village are adivasi (original inhabitants, tribe) residing in a rural part of Gujarat State, India. Primarily farmers, the Rathwa live in an area where development-related projects, such as mineral mining and damming on the Narmada River, are increasingly impacting their livelihood, health status, and quality of life. The local economy is impacted by uncertainty regarding access to water from the Narmada River, concerns related to the extraction of minerals from a mine in Kadipani, and economic issues that arise when the primary wage earner of the household becomes ill. This dissertation addresses Rathwa health care practices, relying primarily on social constructivism and a political economy framework. I also discuss feminist theory when I analyze women, health care, and spirituality, and modernization theory when I consider the impact of development on health. This study examines the intersection of ethnomedical health care practices (e.g., indigenous/folk medicine/faith healing, Ayurveda and homeopathy) with biomedical/allopathic health care practices. The pluralistic health care system available to the Rathwa in both Kadipani and Kawant villages offers services from private and public sectors, resulting in individuals and families in search of treatment frequently accessing multiple health care providers of both the ethnomedical and/or biomedical categories simultaneously. Treatments for illness may include a visit to a Bhoua (faith healer), a public clinic provided by the government, and home remedies prepared from locally available medicinal plants. This junction of ethnomedical and biomedical health care practices impacts family health care seeking behavior and decision making in a number of ways. With a variety of health care providers available, people will go from one provider to the next until they receive the treatment they are requesting (e.g., antibiotics, injections, etc.), or their symptoms dissipate and they are healed. This practice may result in conflict with certain aspects of Rathwa history, tradition, and cultural practices, such as forgoing a visit to the indigenous healer, a practice which is considered part of Rathwa tradition, and going straight to the public clinic for prescription medications, or giving birth in the public hospital instead of using a traditional birth attendant at home.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elen Cristina Dias de Moura.pdf: 14367435 bytes, checksum: 3905831d41ec47422fdaea5ac09515dc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-06-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The dissertation Between Ramos and Prayers: blessing practice in São Luiz do Paraitinga, from 1950 to 2008 is the result of a two year research performed in the city of São Luiz do Paraitinga on blessing ritual. Our goal was to study this popular form of cure to check the transmission resources, the ruptures and the continuities in the ritual along time and the relation established among faith healers and the local priests. By following the everyday routine of Catholic communities in cities of little and average size, we verify the men and women effective participation involved in religious practices of not official blessings. They are faith healers, people with a special power, able to control the forces able to cause physical, emotional and spiritual unbalances. By means of blessings, they guarantee the operation of the wished normality, breaking itself with the threatening unbalance of the existence. In spite of being to the process margin of the institutionalized religion, faith healers occupy highlight role and enjoy of certain authority in their communities. By talking about blessing ritual, we intend to contribute for the manifestations comprehension of the popular culture in a contemporary context. It is a research on the people and their manifestations, that is, of common people that bring in the everyday experiences an adaptation context to the lived reality. Concerning methodology, we employ magician's and priest concepts developed by Weber (1999), and of religious field, formulated by Bourdieu (2007), to explain the relation established among faith healers and the local priests. The information collection was made by means of the field research with some city inhabitants, besides priests and faith healers. To analyze the interviews content, we used the resources offered by the content analysis method / A dissertação Entre Ramos e Rezas: o ritual de benzeção em São Luiz do Paraitinga, de 1950 a 2008 é o resultado de dois anos de pesquisa realizada na cidade paulista de São Luiz do Paraitinga sobre o ritual de benzeção. Nosso objetivo foi estudar essa forma popular de cura para verificarmos os recursos de transmissão do dom, as rupturas e as continuidades no ritual ao longo do tempo e a relação estabelecida entre os(as) benzedeiros(as) e os padres locais. Ao acompanharmos o cotidiano de comunidades católicas em cidades de pequeno e médio porte, verificamos a efetiva participação de homens e mulheres envolvidos em práticas religiosas de bênçãos não oficiais. São os(as) benzedeiros(as), pessoas portadoras de um poder especial, capazes de controlar as forças desencadeadoras de desequilíbrios físicos, emocionais e espirituais. Por meio de benzimentos, garantem o funcionamento da normalidade desejada, rompendo-se com o desequilíbrio ameaçador da existência. Apesar de estarem à margem do processo da religião institucionalizada, os(as) benzedeiros(as) ocupam papel de destaque e desfrutam de certa autoridade em suas comunidades. Ao abordamos o ritual de benzeção, pretendemos contribuir para a compreensão das manifestações da cultura popular num contexto contemporâneo. Trata-se de uma pesquisa sobre o povo e suas manifestações, isto é, de pessoas comuns que trazem nas experiências cotidianas um contexto de adaptação à realidade vivida. No que diz respeito à metodologia, empregamos os conceitos de mago e sacerdote, desenvolvidos por Weber (1999), e de campo religioso, formulado por Bourdieu (2007), para explicarmos a relação estabelecida entre os agentes da benzeção e os padres locais. A coleta de informações foi feita por meio da pesquisa de campo com alguns moradores da cidade, além de padres e benzedeiros(as). Para analisar o conteúdo das entrevistas, utilizamos os recursos oferecidos pelo método de análise de conteúdo

This master s degree thesis is a ethnographic study on the religious works practiced by the female faith healers in the city of Itabaiana/SE. I attempt to show how these people exercise their cure practices in the several believers through the use of prayers and symbols such as the branch, the water, the oil, etc. Armed with these symbols, the female faith healers perform their healing rituals in private, within their own homes or in some other location such as the backyard, thus free from the interference of religions considered as official. In this research, besides of orality, we also relied on theoretical research of classical anthropology authors, as well as on contemporary authors. Therefore, this study shows that the female faith healers guide their life trajectory inside the popular Catholicism; however, they exercise their healing practices autonomously, fluidly, through symbolic exchanges and religious exchanges among the various spheres of popular and institutionalized religions. / Esta dissertação de mestrado é um estudo etnográfico acerca dos trabalhos religiosos exercidos pelas rezadeiras na cidade de Itabaiana/SE. Procuramos mostrar como essas pessoas exercem suas práticas de curas nos diversos fiéis, mediante o uso de orações e de símbolos como o ramo, a água, o óleo, etc. Munidos desses símbolos, as rezadeiras realizam suas curas em rituais privados, dentro de suas próprias casas ou em algum outro local, como o quintal, livres assim da interferência das religiões tidas como oficiais. Nesta pesquisa, além da oralidade, baseamo-nos também em pesquisa teórica de autores clássicos da antropologia, bem como de autores contemporâneos. Esse estudo, portanto, vem mostrar que as rezadeiras pautam sua trajetória de vida no interior do catolicismo popular; no entanto, exercem suas práticas de curas de forma autônoma, fluida, mediante trocas simbólicas e intercâmbios religiosos entre as várias esferas das religiões populares e institucionalizadas.

The UNAIDS report on the global AIDS epidemic (2010:9-11), stated that for the estimated 33.3 million people living with HIV, sub-Saharan Africa has a staggering 22 500 000: South Africa having the highest figure of 5 600 000. The question arises: Why has HIV/AIDS spread faster in Africa than on any other continent, despite similar international strategies? The challenge in Africa is that several HIV/AIDS beliefs and misconceptions distorting management of HIV/AIDS. South African learners receive HIV/AIDS education from the school culture, community, government and the international community, whereas they should be partners in collaborative education: yet, they are not. The research finding indicated that for effective educational strategies, education managers should be aware of these different voices affecting HIV/AIDS education. Education managers should be the main voice in dealing with this menacing epidemic. Countries that have approached HIV/AIDS scientifically and speak with one voice successfully reduced their HIV/AIDS statistics. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

The study is an explication of the representation of traditional and faith healers in Zimbabwean newspapers. This is done through analysing newspaper articles from selected Zimbabwean Newspapers. Kwayedza, Umthunywa, The Herald, NewsDay, Daily News and two tabloids which are Bulawayo Metropolitan (B-Metro) and Harare Metropolitan (H-Metro) are the papers that were used in the study to pursue the purpose of the study. The study is guided by the Afrocentricity and the extended pragma-dialectic theory. The theories allow the study to explore the issue of traditional and faith healers in line with the political, economic and the social context which shape the system in which they find themselves. The study recognises that traditional healing is the father of all healing systems in Africa. Faith healing and Western medicine are both colonial phenomena; they came into limelight following the colonisation of Africa thereby giving African countries a three-tier health system that comprises of traditional healers, faith healers and medical doctors. The research adopts a qualitative research paradigm. Data for the research is extracted from interviews, critical discourse analysis of newspaper articles and questionnaires. The study established that traditional healers are diabolically represented in Zimbabwean newspapers and this is because of Eurocentrism which is still rife in the minds of Zimbabweans. Eurocentrism depicts people of the African race as inferior, uncivilised, barbaric, savages and chaotic and this annihilates and dehumanises Africans. Faith healers on the other hand receive both positive and negative representation. Positive representation is necessitated by the idea that they are aligned to Christianity and negative representation emanates from the idea that their healing systems embrace the African understanding of disease and illness. The study concludes that the stories are a reflection of the idea that both the media and the minds of the people involved in news production are still held in colonialism. It is therefore concluded that media representation of traditional and faith healers is colonised. The study therefore advocates for the centering of the African in newspaper discourse about traditional and faith healers. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

MAAS / Centre for African Studies / The study sought to explore the use of traditional healing modalities in the provision of mental illness in the Vhembe district of Limpopo province. Traditional medicine has been used for thousands of years by indigenous people in South Africa and Africa as a whole, and demonstrated efficacy in treating a wide range of health issue. Many of the medicines in contemporary biomedical treatment are derived from plants and herbs used by indigenous people throughout the world. The objectives of the study were to describe the profile of the clients that visit the traditional healers, to explain traditional healers’ diagnostic strategies of mental illness, to explain the traditional healing treatment modalities in the treatment of various forms of mental illness and to discuss traditional healers’ prevention methods of mental illness. The study was guided by indigenous theory of health and illness as a theoretical framework, and for supporting the literature, a theory of African perspective theory was used. A qualitative research approach was used in order to have an in-depth understanding of the modalities of traditional healing in the provision of mental health care. Case study approach was used. Participants were selected purposively around Vhembe district in Limpopo province and snowball sampling technique was applied in order to identify and recruit relevant participants. The researcher conducted semi -structured interviews to gather the relevant data. Data analysis was based on the interpretative philosophy that aimed at examining meaning and symbolic content of qualitative data. Thematic analysis method was employed. The findings of the study confirmed that traditional healing is still widely used in the communities in the provision of mental illness and that there are a variety of diagnostic, treatment and prevention methods in the provision of mental illness. The findings also show that as much as there are challenges facing traditional healing in treatment of mental illness, there is a need to introduce their modalities in the healthcare system of South Africa, Africa and the whole world. Programs that aim to educate the communities about traditional healing modalities should also be established by the Department of Health and the relevant stakeholders such as traditional healers’ organizations. / NRF

The UNAIDS report on the global AIDS epidemic (2010:9-11), stated that for the estimated 33.3 million people living with HIV, sub-Saharan Africa has a staggering 22 500 000: South Africa having the highest figure of 5 600 000. The question arises: Why has HIV/AIDS spread faster in Africa than on any other continent, despite similar international strategies? The challenge in Africa is that several HIV/AIDS beliefs and misconceptions distorting management of HIV/AIDS. South African learners receive HIV/AIDS education from the school culture, community, government and the international community, whereas they should be partners in collaborative education: yet, they are not. The research finding indicated that for effective educational strategies, education managers should be aware of these different voices affecting HIV/AIDS education. Education managers should be the main voice in dealing with this menacing epidemic. Countries that have approached HIV/AIDS scientifically and speak with one voice successfully reduced their HIV/AIDS statistics. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)