Astrid Bochow - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Astrid Bochow
Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis
Social Mobility and Family-Based Reciprocity
Anthropos, Dec 31, 2022
3 Wege ins Leben: Entwürfe von Person, Körper und Welt gebildeter Berufstätiger in Gaborone
Risiko und HIV / Aids in Botswana, 2020
Understanding Childlessness in Botswana
Africa Spectrum, Dec 11, 2015
Fertility, Conjuncture, Difference
1 HIV / Aids und Risiko: Ethnographische Perspektiven auf den Körper
The Choice of Health
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.
6 Leben retten: Von Voluntarismus zu Professionalismus
2 Wissen als Risiko: Forschen zu HIV / Aids in Gaborone
Tsantsa: Zeitschrift der Schweizerischen Ethnologischen Gesellschaft, May 1, 2015
Affective Trajectories
A discussion with a group of sociology students at the University of Botswana in 2011 revealed th... more A discussion with a group of sociology students at the University of Botswana in 2011 revealed the emotional weight that decisions about family and all related decisions have for the young generation of educated professionals in Gaborone, Botswana's capital. I had given a lecture in a class on gender during one of my visits to Botswana, and a vibrant discussion unfolded afterward. I asked young educated people about their aspirations in life, and soon the discussion ventured into the topics of family planning, gender roles, and work. It took an unexpected emotional turn when one male student confessed, "In my church they teach me I am a man and therefore I am a provider. I have responsibilities! I want my wife to stay at home." His statement motivated one of the female students to speak. She became visibly emotional during her statement, with her tensed body posture, her husky voice, and tears in her eyes expressing desperation, pain, and anger. She told the group that her boyfriend wanted to marry her, but she was adamant that she did not want to. She believed that his plan was to entice her into the relationship, eventually having a child together, only to leave her after she had given in and accepted his proposal. "My church prohibits
7 Neue Politik des Lebens: HIV und Gesundheit nach der Krise
Risiko und HIV / Aids in Botswana
0 Einführung: Risikogesellschaft in Botsuana – Konzepte, Fragen und Aufbau des Buches
Risiko und HIV / Aids in Botswana
The choice to health : Christian family planning among cosmopolitan educated professionals in times of 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
Changes in African families: a review of anthropological and sociological approaches toward family and kinship in Africa
Familienwandel in Afrika. Ein Forschungsuberblick
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. ...
Valentine’s Day in Kumasi, Ghana: sexuality and changes in intergenerational relations
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.
Titelei/Inhaltsverzeichnis
Social Mobility and Family-Based Reciprocity
Anthropos, Dec 31, 2022
3 Wege ins Leben: Entwürfe von Person, Körper und Welt gebildeter Berufstätiger in Gaborone
Risiko und HIV / Aids in Botswana, 2020
Understanding Childlessness in Botswana
Africa Spectrum, Dec 11, 2015
Fertility, Conjuncture, Difference
1 HIV / Aids und Risiko: Ethnographische Perspektiven auf den Körper
The Choice of Health
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.
6 Leben retten: Von Voluntarismus zu Professionalismus
2 Wissen als Risiko: Forschen zu HIV / Aids in Gaborone
Tsantsa: Zeitschrift der Schweizerischen Ethnologischen Gesellschaft, May 1, 2015
Affective Trajectories
A discussion with a group of sociology students at the University of Botswana in 2011 revealed th... more A discussion with a group of sociology students at the University of Botswana in 2011 revealed the emotional weight that decisions about family and all related decisions have for the young generation of educated professionals in Gaborone, Botswana's capital. I had given a lecture in a class on gender during one of my visits to Botswana, and a vibrant discussion unfolded afterward. I asked young educated people about their aspirations in life, and soon the discussion ventured into the topics of family planning, gender roles, and work. It took an unexpected emotional turn when one male student confessed, "In my church they teach me I am a man and therefore I am a provider. I have responsibilities! I want my wife to stay at home." His statement motivated one of the female students to speak. She became visibly emotional during her statement, with her tensed body posture, her husky voice, and tears in her eyes expressing desperation, pain, and anger. She told the group that her boyfriend wanted to marry her, but she was adamant that she did not want to. She believed that his plan was to entice her into the relationship, eventually having a child together, only to leave her after she had given in and accepted his proposal. "My church prohibits
7 Neue Politik des Lebens: HIV und Gesundheit nach der Krise
Risiko und HIV / Aids in Botswana
0 Einführung: Risikogesellschaft in Botsuana – Konzepte, Fragen und Aufbau des Buches
Risiko und HIV / Aids in Botswana
The choice to health : Christian family planning among cosmopolitan educated professionals in times of 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
Changes in African families: a review of anthropological and sociological approaches toward family and kinship in Africa
Familienwandel in Afrika. Ein Forschungsuberblick
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. ...
Valentine’s Day in Kumasi, Ghana: sexuality and changes in intergenerational relations
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.