Beyond dyads: The perception and embodiment of HIV/AIDS risk among Muslims within marital unions in rural Uganda

The research for this dissertation was conducted over nearly two years in a rural area of eastern Uganda With Muslims of the Basoga ethnic group who had been reached by an intensive, faith-based HIV/AIDS education and prevention program (the Islamic Medical Association of Uganda's Family AIDS Education and Prevention through Imams Project). The primary research question I addressed is how the social construction and practice of gender relations affects the perception and embodiment—or lived experience—of HIV/AIDS risk, particularly for women in marital unions. Individuals learn gender norms and are rewarded or sanctioned based upon the extent to which they practice (or “do”) gender according to dominant norms. Specifically, using both qualitative and quantitative methods I examined (1) how doing gender among Basoga Muslims impacts access to and control over valued social and economic resources as well as control over sexuality and reproduction, (2) the way inequitable distribution of resources and control over sexuality and reproduction affects the perception and embodiment of risk, and (3) the different way matched wives and husbands in monogamous and polygynous unions assess their HIV/AIDS risk and their reasons for that risk. I also discussed perceptions of polygyny as a risk factor for HIV/AIDS as a sub-set of the third research question.;Marital partners in polygynous unions are linked to each other through complex, multi-dimensional networks yet, the focus of research on HIV/AIDS risk within marital unions in Sub-Saharan Africa remains at the level of individuals or couples (dyads). To address this and produce data to answer the above questions, I developed the risk cluster concept as an analytical and methodological tool. This concept attempts to move beyond the level of individuals and dyads (or couples) to compare matched husbands and wives' responses to key issues related to HIV/AIDS risk and risk reduction. A risk cluster consists of all the marital partners within a union, whether living in separate or linked households. A linked household is one in which a husband has wives living in more than one compound (or house). In the survey portion of the risk cluster analysis I used the Kappa statistic (a measure of percent agreement adjusted for chance) to evaluate the extent of agreement on self-assessed HIV/AIDS risk within monogamous and polygynous risk clusters.;Consistent with other research, women were concerned about their husband's risk-related behavior as an influence on their HIV/AIDS risk. A new finding is that women in polygynous unions were also concerned about their co-wife/ves' behavior. This suggests that we need to expand West and Zimmerman's (1991) concept of “doing gender” to include gender relations among women as well as between women and men. In other words, relationships among women are as important to understanding the dynamics of power, as are relations between women and men. Another significant finding, not reported in other research, is that the majority of participants (nearly two-thirds) considered polygyny a risk factor for HIV/AIDS. Moreover, members of polygynous, risk clusters were more likely than members of monogamous risk clusters to assess their risk as moderate/great We need to move beyond the level of couples (or dyads) when conducting research on HIV/AIDS in areas of Sub-Saharan Africa with high levels of polygyny and adopt a broader frame of analysis than provided by individual level or couples research. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).