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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: July 6, 2020 at 2:11:58 PM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Africa]: Burgess on Cynn, 'Prevention: Gender, > Sexuality, HIV, and the Media in Côte d'Ivoire' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Christine Cynn. Prevention: Gender, Sexuality, HIV, and the Media in > Côte d'Ivoire. Abnormalities: Queer/Gender/Embodiment Series. > Columbus Ohio State University Press, 2018. xi + 240 pp. $29.95 > (paper), ISBN 978-0-8142-5498-1; $99.95 (cloth), ISBN > 978-0-8142-1381-0. > > Reviewed by Sarah S. Burgess (Camber Collective) > Published on H-Africa (July, 2020) > Commissioned by David D. Hurlbut > > In Prevention: Gender, Sexuality, HIV and the Media in Côte > d'Ivoire, Christine Cynn argues that HIV prevention media in Côte > d'Ivoire has historically upheld ideals around neoliberalism, > national identity, hegemonic gender norms, and heterosexism. In deep, > insightful close readings, Cynn dissects various HIV/AIDS visual > media, including satirical newspaper columns, comedic television > sketches, and melodramas produced by nongovernmental organizations > (NGOs). Broadly speaking, these media are generally said to have one > key objective: promoting social and behavioral change to prevent > HIV/AIDS. Cynn's analysis argues that they also work to uphold > multiple (and at times, contradictory) social, economic, and > political agendas. > > In the introduction, Cynn provides background on her positionality > and methods, laying out how her work benefited from her own long-term > engagement in HIV prevention. She is also up-front about the > limitations of her research and analytical framework. Prior to > writing the book, Cynn worked as a community organizer and later as a > Fulbright researcher in Abidjan, the capital of Côte d'Ivoire, where > she worked closely with women living with HIV in Abidjan. Through > this experience, Cynn observed a "chasm" between the representation > of HIV prevention in the media and "the lived experiences of those > exposed to HIV prevention messages." While this observation is the > "point of departure" for this book, Cynn is up-front about the fact > that she does not attempt to, and does not, address this chasm (p. > 13). Nor does Cynn rely on the methods of social science or include > ethnographic data from the community of Ivorians with whom she worked > so closely. Rather, Cynn approaches HIV prevention media as a scholar > of literature and film, relying on close readings and asserting that > "humanities can make vital contributions to discussions that have > generally been limited to the purview of the sciences, and to a > lesser extent, the social sciences" (p. 12). The boundaries of Cynn's > lens lead to a unique, striking analysis but also suggest limits to > the extent to which a purely humanities lens can generate the > insights that Cynn calls for in her conclusion. > > Each chapter of _Prevention _looks at a different form of HIV > messaging. Cynn generally starts by examining the historical and > political context in which the media was produced and proceeds with a > close analytical reading of text, dialogue, and visual imagery, > dissecting how they work to produce multiple, often contradictory > meanings. Cynn examines a satirical column that pokes fun at, and > upholds, the single party state's response to the epidemic, and later > on dissects television programs from the 1980s and 1990s that > delivered HIV prevention messages through humor, while also > reproducing patriarchal gender norms. > > The most dynamic and original analysis appears in chapter 3, > "Regulating Female Reproductive Potential: Abortion and Family as HIV > Prevention." This is where the depth of Cynn's understanding of > historical Ivorian politics, the depth of her archival research, and > her analytical attention to detail shine most. Cynn begins this > chapter by looking at French colonial attempts to establish control > by promoting nuclear families. The chapter then draws on Jeane M. > Toungara's analysis, which posits that the state continued to promote > the nuclear family so as to encourage "capitalist economic > development" and maintenance of "a labor force" (p. 98). Then, Cynn > builds on this analysis and closely examines messaging and media at > the intersection of HIV/AIDS, reproduction, and abortion, following > how different narratives and anxieties around motherhood and > citizenship have both held steady and evolved over time. > > Between 1993 and 2003, Cynn writes, messages around motherhood and > HIV shifted dramatically. In the early 1990s, local and global actors > held and perpetuated deep anxiety that HIV-positive women would pass > infection to their infants, leading to high seroprevalence in the > population as a whole. In response to this anxiety, "astonishingly > officially unofficial (or unofficially official) messages" > contradicted state policy and religious doctrine on abortion and > strongly suggested seropositive women abort their fetuses (p. 96). > With deft analytical writing, Cynn shows how subtle symbols in a > television series--a doctor's white lab coat and a nun's white > habit--operated to produce these messages (p. 102). > > Later in the same chapter, Cynn examines "Fatoumata: HIV-Positive > Mother" (1999), an episode about motherhood in a video series on HIV > prevention. This media tells the story of an Ivorian woman who is > anxious about her HIV status, and what it says about her as a wife > and potential mother. The series follows Fatoumata as she carefully > follows medical advice to prevent HIV transmission to her child, > taking medication during pregnancy, and avoiding breastfeeding after > birth, and later, resisting pressure to use traditional medicine on > her son. Fatoumata, Cynn argues, is represented as a "virtuous mother > and wife" and "blameless victim" (p. 131). Analysis on the Fatoumata > segment concludes that while the story challenges stigma, it > "reinforces stigmatization against those who do not conform to > reproductively oriented, heteronormative gendering," reproducing the > legacy of colonial and state messaging that have sought political > control through heteronormative population control (p. 136). > > Although this analysis is provocative, in this instance, and other > instances like it, it feels incomplete without data on how the > intended audience received and interpreted the media. While Cynn > makes the case that promoting heterosexual ideals around motherhood > is part of colonial legacy, Africana womanist scholarship has argued > that the legacies of colonialism and capitalism have systematically > deteriorated and undermined families, and thus prioritizing family > and achieving motherhood can be understood as an act of > resistance.[1] At the end of the chapter on HIV and reproduction, I > was left wondering what exactly the media had achieved, and if it did > more work to challenge the stigma and support the desires of women > and their communities; or if it generated further pressure for women > to conform to hegemonic structures and norms; or if it represented > both resistance to and replication of colonial discourse. > > Cynn is well aware of the boundaries of her analysis. In the > introduction, she notes that she was unable to include "ethnographies > of resistant subjects of health interventions" or analysis of the > "alternative, unofficial modes of HIV prevention," noting that these > types of analysis would serve as a "welcome supplement" to her own > research (p. 13). Still, it is unfortunate that Cynn does not bring > ethnography, or data from her experience in the field, into her own > work, as in many places it would have made for a richer, more > productive analysis. > > "HIV prevention media" Cynn concludes, "calls for inquiries" that > extend beyond the normative frameworks and imagine "more open-ended > futures that extend beyond those offered, that are yet to come" (p. > 207). Having worked in the field of HIV prevention messaging myself, > I could not agree more, and am grateful for the additional > perspective that Cynn gave me through this work. Yet I wish that Cynn > had brought a little more social science into her methods, instead of > relying on future scholars to complement her analysis. Without > ethnography embedded in her analysis, some of it felt incomplete. A > more interdisciplinary approach would have (paradoxically) > strengthened her argument on the values of a humanities lens in > public health messaging and perhaps yielded further insight to help > us imagine or understand those open-ended futures. > > Note > > [1]. Clenora Hudson-Weems, _Africana Womanism: Reclaiming Ourselves_ > (New York: Routledge, 2019). > > Citation: Sarah S. Burgess. Review of Cynn, Christine, _Prevention: > Gender, Sexuality, HIV, and the Media in Côte d'Ivoire_. H-Africa, > H-Net Reviews. July, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55002 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
