Through the oral history approach, this study documents shifts in the pastoral agency of manyano
leaders in the HIV and AIDS context of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands from 1990-2000 and 2000-2010.
The two time periods are significant as they mark changes in socio-economic and socio-political
influences on HIV and AIDS in South Africa. The model used to investigate the agency of the
manyano leaders has been drawn from James Scott’s (1990) theory of power relations between
dominant and subordinate groups.
Scott’s (1990) theory guided this study in analysing the agency of manyano leaders in two ways.
Firstly, the theory guided the study’s analysis of the interviews beyond the superficial level to uncover
discourses that in Scott’s (1990) terms operate in the public realm, hidden realm and in the realm of
‘infrapolitics’. Secondly, Scott’s (1990) theory helped uncover some of the shifts in the subversive
agency of the manyano leaders’ response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic during the two time periods
of 1990-2000 and 2001-2010.
In both periods, the manyano leaders’ agency revealed that they opt for just and liberative responses
on behalf of those that have been marginalised by the epidemic. The study revealed that in the first
period, the agency of the manyano leaders’ faced more resistance in the public realm due to dominant
political, religious and social attitudes that fuelled HIV and AIDS-related stigma and denial. As a
result, much of their response to challenges raised by the epidemic took place in the hidden realm. In
the second period, discourses of HIV and AIDS became more public and as a result, this study has
argued, their agency has also become more public. From the results of this study, lessons have been
drawn that contribute to a critical appreciation of manyano leaders’ pastoral agency in the context the
HIV and AIDS epidemic in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/8405 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Soko, Thandi T. |
| Contributors | Haddad, Beverley Gail. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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