Possible Graphics for Regulating Romance Shanti Parikh Note: These are possible graphics for the book. Some slides have multiple photos but not all will be used
Intro Chapter In front of book—Map of Uganda Iganga & Trans-Africa Highway (a.k.a “The AIDS Corridor”)
Not as easy as ABC (abstinence, be faithful, and condom use). This ABC billboard was built between the late 1980s and early 1990s along the Entebbe road, on the shores of Lake Victoria. By the early 2000s, some international observers credited Uganda’s ABC campaign for the country’s declining rates, but in fact this risk reduction slogan was only one part of an aggressive and bold multi-faceted strategy that included poverty reduction and support for people living with HIV.
Iganga Town, Main Street Bulubandi Village
Places in town where young people secretly meet their romantic sweethearts—right, in the evening bazaar (kaylo); left, in an alleyway
Research Methods • Participatory Methods, picture drawing with youth, right • Historical Trendlines with elders, left • Household surveys, lower right • interviews with elders, lower left
Chapter 1: The Ethnographic Setting
Types of houses in Bulubandi, which tend to overlap with residents’ perceptions of neighbors’ socioeconomic status
Around Bulubandi village—upper right, an extended household with multiple generations; upper left, farming; lower right, path in the village, lower left, evening commute from Iganga town to the village
Lives of young people—Household chores & at school
Gender and youth. A young woman browsing at a local boutique. Two young men holding hands. While it is acceptable and common for people of the same sex to hold hands in public, this is considered inappropriate public behavior for people of the opposite sex
Bridewealth display at a kwanhdula ceremony (literally the introduction, or the traditional wedding ceremony)
Drawings of young people depicting their ideas of a good and bad marriage based on what they see in their own homes. Right, notice the gendered custom of the wife kneeling to the husband; center, touching and smiling; left, domestic violence
Chapter 2 The Virus and The Video: Globalization, History and Youth Sex Culture
Signs of the Times. Billboards showing ideological shifts in Uganda’s HIV campaign. • Upper right, Africa’s first HIV billboard built in 1986 outside Kampala • Lower right, mid-1990s condom campaign targeting young people by invoking ideas of modernity and intimacy • Above, early 2000s abstinence messages funded by US’s PEPFAR and faith-based groups
Mass media targeting young people. The increased visibility of sexual messages and images has increased anxiety surrounding youth sexuality
The “Bentu” and Uganda’s mass media. These young men are part of Uganda’s elite Bentu group (from “been to” the U.S., Europe or Canada) whose parents were voluntarily or in political exile aboard during Uganda’s turbulent recent past. They creatively blend global technologies and ideas with local culture to produce highly successful , though sometimes controversial, media outlets.
MTV launching in Kampala, 2005
Chapter 3 From Auntie to Disco: Sexual Learning
The modern day Ssenga. The Ssenga (or, paternal aunt) has evolved from the kin-based sex educator of unmarried adolescent girls to a profitable commercial icon. Today the label Ssenga is used on newspaper columns, radio shows, television programs, and even this sex counselor’s shop near Iganga town. She holds a sex manual that she drew and is surrounded by the local medicines she uses to treat sex problems such as impotence, jealousy, and unrequited love. She also hosts a very popular radio program called, ‘Dear Ssenga.”
The New Vision (May 6, 1997, p. 16) newspaper article about the reemergence of traditional waist beads, which in the past women in Iganga were taught about before marriage. The article calls waistbeads the latest fashion craze in town” and encourages Ugandan women to “recapture your Africanness.”
The Disco and the Video Hall. Left, picture drawn by young people showing where they learn about sex. Right, video hall. Some show porno movies in the evening.
Chapter 4 ‘They arrested me for loving a school girl’: Controlling daughters, Punishing young lovers
200 Defilement 180 Non-Defilement 160 140 120 100 # of Cases 80 60 40 20 0 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Years
Examples of anti-defilement campaigns. Right, depicting sugar daddies and school girls; left, portraying poor men
Attacks again women’s activists, and particularly Mariam Matembe, and their aggressive anti-defilement campaign. Left, from the editorial page of The New Vision [Kampala], December 21, 1991
Chapter 5 Imaging the Chase: Courtship in a Changing World
“The Chase.” Gender ideologies of courtship
Shifts in Courtship and Romance The courtship in the past (The Village)—Drawing from youth about where people in the past meet spouses and romantic partners The courtship in the present (Town and Commercial spaces)—Drawing from youth about where people today meet spouses and go to with romantic partners
Global ideologies of romance and gender influencing youth people.
Chapters 6, 7, and 8 Youth Romance and Love Letters
Chapter 6: Intro to Love Letters
Youth romance and intimacy
Chapter 7: Sentiments of Desire
Chapter 8: Sentiments of Disappointment
