Music, Culture, and the Politics of Health: Ethnography of a South African AIDS Choir

(Hardback)

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This book is an ethnographic study of a HIV/AIDS choir who use music to articulate their individual and collective experiences of the disease. The study interrogates as to understand the bigger picture of HIV/AIDS using the approach of microanalysis of music event. It places the choir, and the cultural and political issues addressed in their music in the broader context of South Africas public health and political history, and the global culture and politics of AIDS.

Reviews

Music, Culture, and the Politics of Health is a significant contribution to localized studies of music and global health concerns. By focusing on the Siphithemba Choir, Austin C. Okigbo unveils the use of the arts in sub-Saharan Africa to function both as educational outreach for local communities and as an internal intervention for the choir itself. Drawing on song texts rich in details related to health and society, this ethnography stands as a testament to the important role music serves in the everyday politics of AIDS in South Africa today -- Gregory Barz, Vanderbilt University
Music, Culture, and the Politics of Healthisoriginal, beautifully written, andinsightful -an indispensable book in the discourse on health, music, faith, and politics.It offers us a rare glimpse into the lives of the members of the Siphithemba Choir, an HIV/AIDS support group in South Africa, and how the group uses music to traverse through their often-stigmatized social environment.This ethnographic text is a departure from the usual 'heres another example ofHIV/AIDSandmusical activism' that has dominated the scholarship. The author places the choir in a broaderframework, enabling himto take the reader through history, culture, and politics of health in local and transnational contexts. It is a thought-provoking must-read that will be of interest not only to scholars or experts in the field, but to the general public. -- Paul Nnodim, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, professor of philosophy, interdisciplinary studies, and modern languages
Focusing on the Siphithembe choir from Umlazi near Durban, South Africa, Austin Okigbo weaves a compelling narrative about the role of song in the larger struggle against HIV/AIDS. Along the way, he broaches questions of history, politics, race, economics, and health care, and their thematization in musical creation, performance and reception. Okigbo has listened well to his field associates and has projected their thoughts, desires and priorities even while negotiating his own multiple identities. This is a significant contribution to a topic of great contemporary relevance. -- Kofi Agawu FBA, Princeton University, Author of The African Imagination in Music

Author Bio

Austin C. Okigbo is assistant professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Colorado, Boulder.