Preaching Prevention: Born-Again Christianity and the Moral Politics of AIDS in Uganda

253 Pages·2015·4.72 MB·English

by  Lydia Boyd

PREACHING PREVENTION
Born-Again Christianity and the
Moral Politics of AIDS in Uganda
Lydia Boyd
PREACHING PREVENTION
PERSPECTIVES ON GLOBAL HEALTH
Series editor: James L. A. Webb, Jr.
The History of Blood Transfusion in Sub- Saharan Africa,
by William H. Schneider
Global Health in Africa: Historical Perspectives on Disease Control,
edited by Tamara Giles- Vernick and James L. A. Webb, Jr.
Preaching Prevention: Born- Again Christianity and the Moral Politics
of AIDS in Uganda, by Lydia Boyd
The Experiment Must Continue: Medical Research and Ethics in
East Africa, 1940–2014, by Melissa Graboyes
PREACHING PREVENTION
Born- Again Christianity and the Moral
Politics of AIDS in Uganda
Lydia Boyd
Ohio University Press
Athens
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
ohioswallow . com
© 2015 by Ohio University Press
All rights reserved
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Ohio University Press publications, please contact our rights and permissions department at
[phone] or [phone] (fax).
Printed in the United States of America
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-f ree paper ™
All photographs are by the author.
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Boyd, Lydia, author.
Preaching prevention : born- again Christianity and the moral politics of
AIDS in Uganda / Lydia Boyd.
p. ; cm. — (Perspectives on global health)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8214-2169-7 (hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8214-2170-3 (pb : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-0-8214-4532-7 (pdf)
I. Title. II. Series: Perspectives on global health.
[DNLM: 1. United States. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. 2. Acquired
Immunodeficiency Syndrome— prevention & control— Uganda. 3. Acquired
Immunodeficiency Syndrome— prevention & control— United States. 4. HIV
Infections—prevention & control— Uganda. 5. HIV Infections— prevention & control—
United States. 6. Christianity—U ganda. 7. Christianity— United States. 8. Health
Policy— Uganda. 9. Health Policy— United States. 10. Sexual Abstinence— Uganda.
11. Sexual Abstinence— United States. WC 503.6]
RA643.86.U33
362.19697'920096761— dc23
2015026459
For Dave

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Ac know ledg ments xi
Introduction
The Politics and Antipolitics of Miracles 1
PART I. THE CONTEXT OF A POLICY
American Compassion and the Politics of AIDS
ONE
Prevention in Uganda 27
AIDS at Home
TWO
Urbanization, Religious Change, and the Politics of the
House hold in Twentieth- and Twenty- First- Century Uganda 55
PART II. ENGAGEMENTS
“Abstinence Is for Me, How about You?”
THREE
The Meaning and Morality of Sex 79
Abstinence and the Healthy Body
FOUR
Spiritual Frameworks for Health and Healing, or
“The Right Way to Live Long” 106
Faithfulness
FIVE
Urban Sexuality and the Moral Dilemmas of Love 130
PART III. IN A POLICY’S WAKE
Freedom and the Accountable Subject
SIX
Uganda’s Anti- Homosexuality Bill 157
vii
Epilogue
Beyond the Accountable Subject 180
Notes 187
Bibliography 217
Index 233
viii
Contents
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
1.1. “Safe sex is no sex!” rally in support of abstinence, Kampala,
October 2006 52
2.1. “Fight abstinence stigma”; Christian abstinence activists 71
3.1. “Abstinence is for me, how about you?” 80
3.2. “Marriage is a fortress”; Mukono abstinence workshop,
January 2007 88
4.1. “It’s healthy 2 abstain”; rally in support of abstinence,
Kampala, October 2006 108
5.1. Faithfulness flag, Kampala, World AIDS Day 2006 131
6.1. “We should drive out homosexuality” 162
Map
2.1. Uganda and Buganda 59
ix