Never the Twain Shall Mix: AIDS Patients’ Rejection of Antiretroviral Drugs in Favor of Christian Holy Water in Ethiopia
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Date
2022-10-26
Authors
Beyene, Gubae
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
The laity in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church have always tapped into holy water as a therapeutic for health issues. A fundamental article of faith within the Church, this treatment necessitates total devotion on the part of the faithful. Consequently, it often leads to a tension with the biomedical treatment as patients forgo their prescribed medication in its exclusive pursuit. In 2007, PEPFAR, a global U.S.-government program focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, attempted to introduce antiretroviral drugs into holy water sanctuaries in hopes of improving adherence among those receiving holy water treatment in the ecclesiastical realm. Denounced by the clergy and laity at the initial site of dissemination as a defilement of the sacred by the profane, it led to many of the faithful departing the holy water site.Following the above-mentioned inflection point, this dissertation analyzes the health and illness narratives of clergy and holy-water treated, AIDS-stricken laity at four holy water sites in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and its environs. In addition, it incorporates the perspective of the biomedical side through dialogical engagements carried out with healthcare professionals. By adopting the culture-centered approach to health communication and informed by social constructionist and diffusion of innovations theories, this study, through in-depth interviews and thematic analysis of media materials, foregrounds health experiences in the local context situated in the nexus between the biomedical and the religio-spiritual. Through the analysis of meanings
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negotiated in the realms of social norms, structure, and identities enacted through social construction, as well as a range of relationships, the study brings to the fore voices from the margins.
The findings point to a marked divergence between the biomedical and ecclesiastical realms in nosological constructions of HIV/AIDS itself. In the latter domain, the chronicity of the disease does not tend to get adopted. This complicates the smooth adoption of the biomedical drugs which are essentially palliative. Notwithstanding the act of symbolic violence committed by PEPFAR, incompatibility of the two healing systems remains at issue. From the culture-centered approach, cultural and structural conditions rob the AIDS sufferers of agency more so in the divine realm than in the biomedical.
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Keywords
Culture, Culture-centered Approach, Health Communication, Holy Water Treatment, Religion, Spirituality