‘Who/what causes suffering?’: Discourses on religious healing in African communities

Landman, Christina

doi:10.4102/ids.v54i1.2540

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 9 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…First of all, as this study used snowball sampling and was qualitative and isolated to one area of Limpopo province and only interviewed women, it is not meant to be generalizable. For example, another study in South Africa from 2010 found discrepancies in belief between rural regions, with 85% of interviewees in one area believing “God can cure HIV” whereas only 40% did in another region of the country ( Landman, 2020 ). Second, this study is cross-sectional and, therefore cannot determine causality or changes in HIV perceptions over time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of HIV and Mental Illness as “Western” or “Traditional” Illnesses: A Cross-Sectional Study from Limpopo Province, South Africa

Galvin,

Coetzee,

Leshabana

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Although Western biomedical treatment has dramatically increased across sub-Saharan African health systems, traditional medicine as a form of healing and beliefs in supernatural powers as explanations for disease remain prevalent. Research in this region has identified HIV in particular as a disease located within both the traditional African and Western medical paradigms, whilst mental illness is ascribed to primarily supernatural causes. Within this context, this study sought to understand and explore the perceptions of HIV and mental illness among a population of rural women in Limpopo, South Africa. 82 in-depth interviews were conducted between January and December, 2022. Interviews were transcribed and translated into English. Data were managed using NVivo 11 software and thematically analyzed. The majority of participants identified HIV as a Western illness requiring biomedical treatment with causation largely attributed to biological mechanisms. A traditional form of HIV only cured using traditional treatments was also denoted. Unlike for HIV, the majority of respondents felt that there was no biological or behavioral cause for mental illness but rather the illness was conceptualized supernaturally thus likely impacting patient care pathways. Further research to study HIV and mental health perceptions among a larger sample in different regions of sub-Saharan Africa is warranted.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of HIV and Mental Illness as “Western” or “Traditional” Illnesses: A Cross-Sectional Study from Limpopo Province, South Africa

Galvin,

Coetzee,

Leshabana

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Perceptions of HIV and mental illness as “Western” or “Traditional” illnesses: a cross-sectional study from Limpopo Province, South Africa

Galvin,

Coetzee,

Leshabana

et al. 2024

BMC Complement Med Ther

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The spiritual experiences of women victims of gender-based violence: A case study of Thohoyandou

Landman

Mudimeli

2022

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

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This article reports on interviews conducted with 11 women at the Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme (TVEP), a centre located in Sibasa, Thohoyandou, in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The centre provides support and advocacy to female survivors of domestic violence. The participants were victims of gender-based violence and the study aimed at exploring the spiritual experiences of women assaulted by their partners. Interviews were conducted over 4 days and were held on the TVEP premises. This article discusses how women of faith found meaning and support through their religious beliefs when experiencing violence in intimate spaces. Furthermore, the article drew insights from spiritual perceptions held by women that make them feel safer and assist them to find ways to cope with violence in intimate relationships. However, the study found that women prayed for divine intervention and change in their families and for God to help their husbands by removing all evil spirits from their lives. It was found that apart from prayer, the women do not have any other spiritual resources to combat gender-based violence. The authors suggest the deconstruction of harmful religious discourses (such as ‘God has made man to rule over woman’) towards healing religious discourses (such as ‘all people are equal in God’s eyes’) as a type of ‘intervention’ in the lives of the interviewees.Contribution: The article contributes towards understanding the harmful impact of religious discourses on the lives of women who are vulnerable towards domestic violence. Religious discourses that are either harmful or healing are here identified through the stories of women who have been violated in their intimate relationships, thus contributing to the body of knowledge in gender studies and to religious and social sciences in general.

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‘Who/what causes suffering?’: Discourses on religious healing in African communities

Cited by 3 publications

References 9 publications

Perceptions of HIV and Mental Illness as “Western” or “Traditional” Illnesses: A Cross-Sectional Study from Limpopo Province, South Africa

Perceptions of HIV and Mental Illness as “Western” or “Traditional” Illnesses: A Cross-Sectional Study from Limpopo Province, South Africa

Perceptions of HIV and mental illness as “Western” or “Traditional” illnesses: a cross-sectional study from Limpopo Province, South Africa

The spiritual experiences of women victims of gender-based violence: A case study of Thohoyandou

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