Mapping the Body: The Use of the Body Mapping Method to Explore Health and the Built Environment in Cape Town, South Africa (original) (raw)
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Anthropology & Medicine, 2021
This paper analyses the lived experiences of people living with HIV in South Africa through the use of body mapping as a visual research method, by focusing on the physical and symbolic use of the body within the broader context of anthropology and medical anthropology. The study consists of an empirical analysis of the body maps themselves and the accompanied narratives of seven participants, six female and one male participant living with HIV in South Africa. Drawing upon theories and literature on theorising the body in medical anthropology and visual research, this study explores the significance of this practice as a visual research method in understanding the nuanced lived experiences of people living with HIV by highlighting the individuality of the body and emotions; embodied experiences: a bio-cultural approach; and the body politic: social injustice. The results of this study illustrate that body mapping is a unique visual research method, that explores the body as the vehicle in which we exist within the world, while containing a vast amount of layered interpretive and cultural meanings, which are key to understanding the lived experience of people from marginalised groups.
Body Maps as Ecological, Affective, Relational and Decolonizing Method
Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 2020
Building upon previous research (Fidyk 2019a, 2019b) aimed to support the mental health of vulnerable youth, this presentation focuses on body maps as an ecological, affective, relational and decolonizing method for data creation, collection and expression/presentation. Body maps, broadly defined, are life-size body images, while body mapping is the process of creating body maps using collage, photography, painting or other arts-integrated techniques to visually symbolize aspects of people’s lives, bodies and worlds. Rooted in research regarding women’s reproductive health and body biology in Jamaica (MacCormack, 1985), body maps became widely used as a method to study HIV/AIDS self-care needs. It has been used in community-based work in Zimbabwe (Cornwall, 1990) and South Africa (MacGregor, 2009), and in Brazil, Colombia, Canada and Mexico (Devine, 2008; Gastaldo et al., 2012; Gastaldo et al., 2018; Wienard, 2006). The use of body maps also enables participants to engage with sites...
An evaluation of body mapping as a potential HIV/AIDS educational tool
2006
Since antiretroviral treatment was first made available in the public health care sector in 2004, there has been an urgent need to train people working in the field and increase biomedical knowledge about HIV/AIDS within the South African population. This paper aims to assess the potential of further developing the technique of body mapping as an HIV/AIDS educational tool for adults in HIV-positive support groups. It will involve an evaluation of the Longlife Project, the body mapping workshop process and individual body maps. While the over-arching intention of the Longlife Project was advocacy in the face of government resistance to providing antiretroviral treatment at the time, its proposed advocacy could not take place without education. Building on this premise, together with an analysis of the body maps and interview transcripts found in the book Longlife: Positive HIV Stories it is suggested the creation of body maps increased biomedical understanding of HIV/AIDS and to some...
2018
In the US alone, 1.2 million people were diagnosed with HIV in 2013 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). People living with HIV experience stigma-related disadvantages that affect their quality of life. Stigma manifests in multiple forms (e.g. prejudice and discrimination) (Mahajan, 2008). Consequently, stigma contributes to barriers for effective intervention, prevention, treatment, and care for PLHIV (International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), 2015). In this pilot study, the researcher implemented a body mapping workshop for clients of AIDS Athens. Through a mixed methods of observation, interview, and questionnaire for data collection, the result of the process and outcome evaluation of the body mapping workshop showed that: (1) the intervention was implemented as intended; (2) the workshop can be replicated in the Athens setting; (3) the workshop can be improved upon for future delivery (4) the workshop did not meet its intended outcome objectives (a...
Body-Map Storytelling as a Health Research Methodology: Blurred Lines Creating Clear Pictures
2018
In diesem Artikel sichten wir die vorliegende Literatur zur Nutzung von Body-Maps (BM) in den Gesundheitswissenschaften, um zum einen den aktuellen Wissensstand zu systematisieren und zum anderen zu dessen Weiterentwicklung beizutragen. Unsere kritische Recherche wurde durch zwei Fragen geleitet: 1. Wie sind BM in den Gesundheitswissenschaften eingesetzt worden? 2. In welcher Weise konnen BM zu einer antikolonialen Agenda verhelfen? Insgesamt wurden 27 englische, spanische und portugiesische Studien in die Untersuchung einbezogen. Die meisten wurden zwischen 2011 und 2016 veroffentlicht und waren in Sudafrika, Kanada, Australien, Brasilien, Chile und den USA durchgefuhrt worden. Thematisch geht es zumeist um marginalisierte Gruppen und soziale Determinanten von Gesundheit, wobei Methoden der Datenerhebung und -analyse erheblich variieren. Auch werden BM unter teilweise unterschiedlichen Bezeichnungen und in verschiedener Weise zunehmend im Rahmen visueller, narrativer und partizipat...
This paper explores ideas about health and illness held by six children who live in the Symphony Way Temporary Relocation Area in Cape Town, South Africa. The research shows that solutions to illness and health problems held by low-income populations are critically shaped by various characteristics of society — the surrounding neighbourhood, the family and the experience of the individual child. This contests current policy assumptions that solutions to wellness are not located within the lived experience of local populations. The findings are part of continued efforts to investigate how health is negotiated in low-income areas, what challenges people face and how they overcome such challenges. The research discusses ideas of health embodiment in relation to both the socio-economic and natural environment, and illustrates the impact that poor housing-quality and access to health care services have on health and ideas of health and illness.
ABSTRAKT Zdraví/nemoc je sociálně a kulturně konstruovaná kategorie. V Zambii je nemoc chápána komplexně, v jejím kosmologickém a sociálním rozměru. Nemoc není konceptualizována pouze jako narušení fyzické a psychické integrity člověka, ale představuje v nejširším slova smyslu neštěstí nebo smůlu, jehož příčina má externí povahu a je spojována s konkrétní agresí a záměrem démonů, mstivých duchů nebo zlých čarodějů/nic. Místní věří, že tyto neviditelné síly prostupují celým jejich životem a významně ovlivňují zdraví, plodnost, bohatství a mezilidské vztahy. Na rozdíl od biomedicíny založené na karteziánském chápání těla a duše, chápou místní tělo a nemoc jako polysémantickou kategorii v níž jsou zahrnuty fyzické, psychické, duchovní, sociální i enviromentální aspekty. Lokální konceptualizace těla je založena na metaforickém spojení fyziologie člověka a ekologie (konkrétně ročních cyklů v přírodě) a bere v potaz tělesnou teplotu a fluiditu tělesných tekutin. Pro obyvatele Lusaky je zdraví (stejně jako bohatství) chápáno jako kvantitativní entita, která je distribuována na principu "omezeného dobra". Věří se, že člověk může nabýt zdraví nebo bohatství jedině "na úkor" jiného člověka, který tím pádem onemocní nebo přijde o své jmění. Proces onemocnění a léčení je tak vzájemně propojen a ovlivňuje se.
Field Methods, 2021
Body mapping methods are used in sexual and reproductive health studies to encourage candid discussion of sex and sexuality, pleasure and pain, sickness and health, and to understand individuals' perceptions of their bodies. VOICED , a qualitative follow-up study to the VOICE trial, developed and used a body map tool in the context of individual in-depth interviews with women in South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The tool showed the outline of a nude female figure from the front and back perspective. We asked women to identify, label, and discuss genitalia and other body parts associated with sexual behaviors, pain, and pleasure. Respondents could indicate body parts without having to verbalize potentially embarrassing anatomical terms, enabling interviewers to clarify ambiguous terminology that may have otherwise been open to misinterpretation. Body maps provided women with a non-intimidating way of discussing and disclosing their sexual practices, and minimized miscommunication of anatomical and behavioral terminology.