Pentecostal Charismatic Women: Constructions of Femininity in Alexandra Township

People often wear their causes on their t-shirts, in their choice of traditional attire or other garments, or by way of specific costumes, pieces of jewellery or particular accessories. In Was it something I wore? Dress; identity; materiality, the contributors explore the construction and performance of personal and social identities. The essays point to the significance of dress as material culture in social science research not only in their content but also in their focus on a variety of methodologies including memory work, visual studies, autoethnography, object biographies and other forms of textual analysis.

Current trends of HIV transmission and prevalence clearly show that the epidemic is fuelled by gender-based vulnerabilities. Close to 60 per cent of adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women, and almost 75 per cent of young people living with HIV in southern Africa are female. It is also clear that issues of gender need to be mainstreamed into attempts to curb the further spread of the epidemic. Research on the gender dimensions of HIV/AIDS needs to be augmented. New and existing research must be integrated into policy. Policy must translate into action, and good practice must inform further policy.

‘Moral Eyes is based on interviews with university students in four African countries: Cameroon, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Africa. Each country exemplifies a distinctive axis of discrimination and privilege—religion, language, ethnicity, and race—though with a good deal of intersectional overlap.

Teenage Tata: Voices of young fathers in South Africa provides a fresh and in-depth portrait of impoverished young South African men who became fathers while teenagers. It provides space for their articulate and impassioned voices to be heard amidst the outcry against the absence of fathers, and offers insights into young fathers personal, emotional, financial and cultural struggles as they come to terms with fatherhood. The study highlights young fathers strong sense of responsibility; poignant accounts of emotional engagement with their children and the women in their lives; the motivating power of young fathers own absent fathers on their parenting intentions; their desire for sex- and relationship-education from male family members and their clear recognition of the help they need. Based on a multi-interview qualitative study in the informal settlements and townships around Cape Town and Durban, this monograph offers methodological innovations and showcases how social network interviews offer great potential for both research and intervention.