Astrid Bochow - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Astrid Bochow
Risiko und HIV / Aids in Botswana, 2020
Africa Spectrum, Dec 11, 2015
AIDS and the Rise of Transnational Connections in Africa, 2014
Based on the reproductive histories of about seventy educated professional women and fifteen educ... more Based on the reproductive histories of about seventy educated professional women and fifteen educated professional men in Botswana, a country with an HIV/AIDS infection rate of 25 to 30 per cent, this chapter discusses the exceptional life courses of Pentecostal women who have remained childless in their marriages. The chapter discusses Comaroff and Comaroff’s hypothesis of the creation of the ‘right bearing, responsible “free” individual’ launched by English nonconformist Methodist missionaries. It analyses how these women have come to prioritise their health over having children. Christian, and in particular Pentecostal, ethics are shown to be a pool of globally circulating biomedical ideas that stress the controllability of the body and favour postponement. As a transnational religion charismatic Christianity thus launches a health ethic that is attributed to the positionality of new middle-class subjectivities.
Tsantsa: Zeitschrift der Schweizerischen Ethnologischen Gesellschaft, May 1, 2015
Risiko und HIV / Aids in Botswana
Risiko und HIV / Aids in Botswana
Demographic transition theory assumes that, given similar socioeconomic conditions of modernity i... more Demographic transition theory assumes that, given similar socioeconomic conditions of modernity in "developing" countries, fertility rates will decline to a statistical level of 2.1 births per woman as occurred in European societies. Demographic analyses show fertility rates both decreasing and increasing. This heterogeneity of fertility rates is a "central problematic in the study of population" (ix) that cannot be resolved using quantitative census survey. Ten authors address this contradiction utilizing demographic (quantitative/macro/ statistical) reasoning and ethnographic (qualitative/micro/interpretive) methods and analyses. The editors' introduction presents an informative overview of demography and ethnography to focus on the work of anthropological demographer Jennifer Johnson-Hanks whose theory of "vital conjuncture" informs each contributors' analysis. Vital conjunctures are a "complex intersection" of current sociocultural and personal forces people consider when making reproductive (and other life) decisions for now and for their future. These ethnographically rich studies-six in Africa and one each in Tajikistan, Northern Italy (with Greece and Spain), and Cambodia, discover how pressures of kin, gender roles, family, marriage, employment inform peoples' decision-making processes and agency. These insights make sense of outcomes that run contrary to demographic transition theory. Anthropological demography means "there is simply more to say than there would be if one stuck to a single discipline" (Heady 155) and space constraints mean I can only hint at the vital conjunctions informing fertility decisions in these case studies. Analysing a century of Catholic mission documents in four east African states, show how pressures of colonization redefined local reproductive mores to reflect western mores of sexuality, family form and reproductive behaviour (Walters). Similarly, Namibian women's fertility is impacted by changing moral values embedded in developing class formations (Pauli). Two groups of Tajik women, whose differing perspectives on reproducing group/identity or reproducing the Soviet state, resulted in different patterns of fertility increase (Roche and Hohmann). In rural northern Italy villages, a confluence of forces exposes a counterintuitive ultra-low fertility among non-migrants compared to higher rates among villagers
Paideuma, 2006
... ebenso be-griffen wird wie die Monogamie oder der Riickgang von Brautpreiszahlungen und Le-vi... more ... ebenso be-griffen wird wie die Monogamie oder der Riickgang von Brautpreiszahlungen und Le-virat. Und schliefilich behauptet man, die ,,moderne Lebensweise" zerstore die sichere Basis der fur die alten Menschen so wichtigen Solidaritat zwischen den Generationen. ...
Africa Spectrum, 2007
In the past five years, Valentine’s Day has been celebrated in Ghana by young people in the publi... more In the past five years, Valentine’s Day has been celebrated in Ghana by young people in the public sphere. This opened up public discussions giving insights into changes of youth and childhood in postcolonial Ghana: The celebrations are closely connected with the arrival of new goods and communication technologies which have been used by young people since the turn of the millennium. The media and Pentecostal Churches create a sexualised public, with ‘the youth’ as a centre of interest. Schools not only prolong childhood, creating a gap between young people’s sexual maturity and their entry into reproductive life, but also offer a sexualised sphere outside their parents’ control. Despite these complex changes, young people (and their parents) keep to customary forms of premarital relationships, in which modes of intergenerational communication are marked by silence and secrets about sexual friendships.
Affective Trajectories, 2020
Risiko und HIV / Aids in Botswana, 2020
Africa Spectrum, Dec 11, 2015
AIDS and the Rise of Transnational Connections in Africa, 2014
Based on the reproductive histories of about seventy educated professional women and fifteen educ... more Based on the reproductive histories of about seventy educated professional women and fifteen educated professional men in Botswana, a country with an HIV/AIDS infection rate of 25 to 30 per cent, this chapter discusses the exceptional life courses of Pentecostal women who have remained childless in their marriages. The chapter discusses Comaroff and Comaroff’s hypothesis of the creation of the ‘right bearing, responsible “free” individual’ launched by English nonconformist Methodist missionaries. It analyses how these women have come to prioritise their health over having children. Christian, and in particular Pentecostal, ethics are shown to be a pool of globally circulating biomedical ideas that stress the controllability of the body and favour postponement. As a transnational religion charismatic Christianity thus launches a health ethic that is attributed to the positionality of new middle-class subjectivities.
Tsantsa: Zeitschrift der Schweizerischen Ethnologischen Gesellschaft, May 1, 2015
Risiko und HIV / Aids in Botswana
Risiko und HIV / Aids in Botswana
Demographic transition theory assumes that, given similar socioeconomic conditions of modernity i... more Demographic transition theory assumes that, given similar socioeconomic conditions of modernity in "developing" countries, fertility rates will decline to a statistical level of 2.1 births per woman as occurred in European societies. Demographic analyses show fertility rates both decreasing and increasing. This heterogeneity of fertility rates is a "central problematic in the study of population" (ix) that cannot be resolved using quantitative census survey. Ten authors address this contradiction utilizing demographic (quantitative/macro/ statistical) reasoning and ethnographic (qualitative/micro/interpretive) methods and analyses. The editors' introduction presents an informative overview of demography and ethnography to focus on the work of anthropological demographer Jennifer Johnson-Hanks whose theory of "vital conjuncture" informs each contributors' analysis. Vital conjunctures are a "complex intersection" of current sociocultural and personal forces people consider when making reproductive (and other life) decisions for now and for their future. These ethnographically rich studies-six in Africa and one each in Tajikistan, Northern Italy (with Greece and Spain), and Cambodia, discover how pressures of kin, gender roles, family, marriage, employment inform peoples' decision-making processes and agency. These insights make sense of outcomes that run contrary to demographic transition theory. Anthropological demography means "there is simply more to say than there would be if one stuck to a single discipline" (Heady 155) and space constraints mean I can only hint at the vital conjunctions informing fertility decisions in these case studies. Analysing a century of Catholic mission documents in four east African states, show how pressures of colonization redefined local reproductive mores to reflect western mores of sexuality, family form and reproductive behaviour (Walters). Similarly, Namibian women's fertility is impacted by changing moral values embedded in developing class formations (Pauli). Two groups of Tajik women, whose differing perspectives on reproducing group/identity or reproducing the Soviet state, resulted in different patterns of fertility increase (Roche and Hohmann). In rural northern Italy villages, a confluence of forces exposes a counterintuitive ultra-low fertility among non-migrants compared to higher rates among villagers
Paideuma, 2006
... ebenso be-griffen wird wie die Monogamie oder der Riickgang von Brautpreiszahlungen und Le-vi... more ... ebenso be-griffen wird wie die Monogamie oder der Riickgang von Brautpreiszahlungen und Le-virat. Und schliefilich behauptet man, die ,,moderne Lebensweise" zerstore die sichere Basis der fur die alten Menschen so wichtigen Solidaritat zwischen den Generationen. ...
Africa Spectrum, 2007
In the past five years, Valentine’s Day has been celebrated in Ghana by young people in the publi... more In the past five years, Valentine’s Day has been celebrated in Ghana by young people in the public sphere. This opened up public discussions giving insights into changes of youth and childhood in postcolonial Ghana: The celebrations are closely connected with the arrival of new goods and communication technologies which have been used by young people since the turn of the millennium. The media and Pentecostal Churches create a sexualised public, with ‘the youth’ as a centre of interest. Schools not only prolong childhood, creating a gap between young people’s sexual maturity and their entry into reproductive life, but also offer a sexualised sphere outside their parents’ control. Despite these complex changes, young people (and their parents) keep to customary forms of premarital relationships, in which modes of intergenerational communication are marked by silence and secrets about sexual friendships.
Affective Trajectories, 2020