- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Abbreviations
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Interlude
- 3 Born in Africa (1990)
- 4 Tears Run Dry
- 5 Singing in the Shadow of Death
- 6 Music, HIV/AIDS, and Social Change in Nairobi, Kenya
- 7 Interlude
- 8 Using Music to Combat AIDS and Other Public Health Issues in Malawi
- 9 Visual Approaches to HIV Literacy in South Africa
- 10 Ngoma Dialogue Circles (Ngoma-Dice)
- 11 Interlude
- 12 HIV/AIDS Poster Campaigns in Malawi<sup>1</sup>
- 13 Contemporary Uses of the Musical Arts in Botswana’s HIV/AIDS Health Education Initiatives
- 14 “We Are the Loudmouthed HIV-Positive People”
- 15 “C’est Le Wake Up! Africa”
- 16 Singing Songs of AIDS in Venda, South Africa
- 17 Interlude
- 18 Aesthetics and Activism
- 19 A Lady Who is an Akadongo Player
- 20 “What Shall We Do?”
- 21 Swahili AIDS Plays
- 22 Confronting AIDS through Popular Music Cultures in Kenya
- 23 Interlude
- 24 Siphithemba—We Give Hope
- 25 Young and Wise in Accra, Ghana
- 26 Singing as Social Order
- 27 “I’m a Rich Man, How Can I Die?”
- 28 Interlude
- 29 <i>Kwaito</i> and the Culture of AIDS in South Africa
- 30 Positive Disturbance
- 31 “EdzI Ndi Dolo” (“AIDS is Mighty”)
- 32 Representing HIV/AIDS in Africa
- 33 Postlude
- About the Authors
- References
- Index
Kwaito and the Culture of AIDS in South Africa
Kwaito and the Culture of AIDS in South Africa
- Chapter:
- (p.343) 29 Kwaito and the Culture of AIDS in South Africa
- Source:
- The Culture of AIDS in Africa
- Author(s):
Gavin Steingo
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This chapter explores the triangular relationship between sexuality, HIV/AIDS, and popular music in South Africa by focusing on the musical genre known as kwaito. Kwaito is a form of electronic dance music that emerged together with South Africa’s democracy in the early 1990s. Appearing in tandem with the demise of apartheid, kwaito music became the soundtrack of liberation as well as other struggles still to be fought, particularly poverty, crime, unemployment, and HIV/AIDS. This chapter considers the social implications of kwaito performance as they relate to discourses of sexual violence and rape. The chapter also looks at the lives and careers of artists such as Zola and Khabzela, as well as the ways that kwaito implicitly parallels the sexual and social power structures associated with AIDS among South Africa’s youth.
Keywords: sexuality, HIV/AIDS, popular music, South Africa, kwaito, electronic dance music, sexual violence, rape, artists, youth
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Abbreviations
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Interlude
- 3 Born in Africa (1990)
- 4 Tears Run Dry
- 5 Singing in the Shadow of Death
- 6 Music, HIV/AIDS, and Social Change in Nairobi, Kenya
- 7 Interlude
- 8 Using Music to Combat AIDS and Other Public Health Issues in Malawi
- 9 Visual Approaches to HIV Literacy in South Africa
- 10 Ngoma Dialogue Circles (Ngoma-Dice)
- 11 Interlude
- 12 HIV/AIDS Poster Campaigns in Malawi<sup>1</sup>
- 13 Contemporary Uses of the Musical Arts in Botswana’s HIV/AIDS Health Education Initiatives
- 14 “We Are the Loudmouthed HIV-Positive People”
- 15 “C’est Le Wake Up! Africa”
- 16 Singing Songs of AIDS in Venda, South Africa
- 17 Interlude
- 18 Aesthetics and Activism
- 19 A Lady Who is an Akadongo Player
- 20 “What Shall We Do?”
- 21 Swahili AIDS Plays
- 22 Confronting AIDS through Popular Music Cultures in Kenya
- 23 Interlude
- 24 Siphithemba—We Give Hope
- 25 Young and Wise in Accra, Ghana
- 26 Singing as Social Order
- 27 “I’m a Rich Man, How Can I Die?”
- 28 Interlude
- 29 <i>Kwaito</i> and the Culture of AIDS in South Africa
- 30 Positive Disturbance
- 31 “EdzI Ndi Dolo” (“AIDS is Mighty”)
- 32 Representing HIV/AIDS in Africa
- 33 Postlude
- About the Authors
- References
- Index