spirit and healing in africa - University of the Free State

ehavior, has mainly determined the epidemiological constructions of AIDS. The consequence
of this response to HIV/AIDS is well-known: the human behavior paradigm and its risk group
identification stigmatized specific groups of people and provided the impulse for a renewed form
of racism (particularly among Western countries).
Social constructions can be seen as a response to the consequences of biomedical constructions.
Instead of starting with the virus and its trajectory, ‘beyond epidemiology’ approaches start with
people and their responses to the virus. How do people explain HIV/AIDS? How do people
survive in a context of suffering and illness? What happens with people when they are
confronted with HIV/AIDS? These kind of questions inform the non-epidemiological frame of
reference.
Studies of social constructions on AIDS reveal that people make sense of AIDS by making use
of what is familiar to them. Personal stories, experiences and communal concepts provide the
foundation for dealing with a new social threat. The need for self-preservation, too, determines
the way people explain and define HIV/AIDS. In order to protect oneself against the destructive
disease, the disease is associated with other social groups, and not with the subject or the social
group at stake. The influence of religion on social constructions has, on the one hand, led to a
strong emphasis on moral behavior, and on the kick-starting of de-stigmatization processes on
the other hand. From a spiritual perspective, the perception of AIDS as God’s punishment has
moved towards the construction on AIDS as an attack by the devil. Such evil attacks make every
person vulnerable to AIDS, and thus any person can become a victim of HIV/AIDS. The faith
community portrays AIDS as the disease pointing towards the community’s Christian
responsibility: to represent the love of God who identifies Himself with the vulnerable and the
marginalized. Hope-engendering communities support people living with HIV/AIDS in their
efforts to re-assess life and define it in the light of the gospel.
Despite the diverging biomedical and social constructions of HIV/AIDS it is possible to identify
a common denominator in the AIDS constructions. The quest for quality of life for people living
with HIV/AIDS constitutes the central notion of how AIDS is constructed from various
perspectives. Within the biomedical field, for example, people strive towards providing quality
in the patient’s life with a medical bias. Medical personnel apply their knowledge and their
expertise to relieve the suffering and to increase the physical capabilities of the patient. Quality
of life has to do with functionality despite illness and physical impairment.
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