Critical Communication History| Religious Rhetoric(s) of the African Diaspora: Using Oral History to Study HIV/AIDS, Community, and Rhetorical Interventions

Last updated on: November 8, 2013 at 10:23 am by Guest Contributor

Critical Communication History| Religious Rhetoric(s) of the African Diaspora: Using Oral History to Study HIV/AIDS, Community, and Rhetorical Interventions 2013-11-08T10:23:00-05:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The destructive effects of HIV/AIDS on humankind have gone beyond victims, their families, and their health practitioners to become the focus of international attention among leaders of the faith community who are entrusted to preach sacred words of life, hope, and grace to the hurting in times of hopelessness. This has occurred despite these leaders’ traditional reluctance to address openly the interrelationship of sexual practices, sexually transmitted diseases, and the larger society. Take, for example, this statement from an oral history interview I conducted with Reverend Al Miller, pastor of Fellowship Tabernacle in Kingston, Jamaica. He said of Jamaican clergy that “we must have a proper understanding that HIV/AIDS is not just the homosexual issue, we [all] need to be responsible in our sexual behavior. I have to give a balanced perspective on the issue.” Therefore, “we should call all of our citizens, both church and community, to more responsible sexual behavior” (A. Miller, oral history interview, June 21, 2010).

In another interview that same year, Reverend Denza Cunningham, pastor of Christ Community Church in Nassau, Bahamas, spoke of the gravity of the epidemic in his country and the breadth of religious rhetoric needed to address the issue. He put it this way: “HIV/AIDS is a real issue in the Bahamas. There is a high rate of it, especially among young people. We deal with it not only from the pulpit, from preaching and teaching, but in our various ministries. It is addressed on the children’s level straight up to the adult level of our church” (D. Cunningham, oral history interview, June 30, 2010). In an interview I conducted in South Africa in 2009, Pastor Titus Sithole recounted how he used his sacred space of influence to speak about the issue as part of his divine mandate to preach the gospel. He had no moral qualms about this move, bluntly stating that for three months, “I began to preach on HIV/AIDS from the pulpit. I read, I studied and preached on it from every angle” (T. Sithole, oral history interview, June 27, 2009).

For all these leaders, the HIV/AIDS crisis has occasioned an important broadening of the scope of their ministerial rhetoric. Historically, Judeo-Christian traditions and scriptures brim with examples of trusted individuals who were “called” by God to be his spokespersons—to stand in sacred spaces and address exigencies of social ills, epidemiological crises, and destructive individual behaviors within religious communities (House, 2007). Scholars (Clement, 1965; Westerman, 1991; Zulick, 1992) have already focused on the rhetorical dimensions of earlier historical instances of religious public address, especially in sermons, but few have addressed what religio-rhetorical challenges the HIV/AIDS crises have posed for people of African descent or how Black religious leaders are responding nationally to this epidemiological terror wreaking havoc in their communities (Bongmba 2007; Moore, Onosomu, Timmons, Abuyu, & Moore, 2010; Muturi, 2008). However, comparative identification of religiously grounded discourses used by religious leaders across the diaspora has been largely neglected, even by communication scholars who might be expected to probe into the rhetorical, interventional, and performative dimensions of such discourses (Beckley & Koch, 2002). Muturi (2008) employs social influence theory to examine Jamaican religious leaders’ contributions to addressing HIV/AIDS across various traditions and practices. Her work, however, stops short of addressing the rhetorical strategies, warrants, and underpinnings of their communication on HIV/AIDS through prayers for healing, health fairs, seminars, and workshops.

This study, propelled by questions surrounding rhetorical strategies used by religious institutions in the diasporic battle against HIV/AIDS, aims to understand better the rhetorical and interventional use of power that resides in the collective voice of religious institutions. Through grounded inquiry (Glaser & Strauss, 1967),1 it examines how oral history methodology and testimonies collected from pastors of African descent across the diaspora illuminate ways of addressing HIV/AIDS through sermons and other forms of religious rhetoric. Specifically, this study uses oral history to investigate religious uses of rhetorics of identification that function as a predominant interventional strategy and rhetorical resource for many Black diasporic religious leaders. Further, I argue that the rhetorical strategies identified through the use of oral history methodology can serve as models for churches that use their most powerful weapon, religious rhetoric, along with everyday pastoral work to create a theological framework for helping people of African descent lead their lives under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. Moreover, the use of such a framework strengthens the overall messages that aim to reconfigure at-risk behaviors and practices and work to counteract the disproportionate epidemiological presence of the disease in communities. Accordingly, religious safe spaces dedicated to improving the life chances of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) emerge when Black diasporic religious leaders integrate these effective tools into their rhetorics on HIV/AIDS (Beadle-Holder, 2011; Fullilove & Fullilove, 1999; Lemelle, 2004).

Using oral history methodology, I localize the rhetoric, religious performances, and discourses of health and healing of several pastors across the African diaspora within one study as part of a larger and ongoing diasporic intervention in the battle against HIV/AIDS. To begin, I briefly present epidemiological background information on the three regions under consideration, followed by a discussion of oral history methodology as the framework from which I gathered excerpts of religious rhetorics. Next, I discuss my data collection practices. Finally, I present my findings of excerpts of identificational religious rhetoric on HIV/AIDS that operate as rhetorical interventions.

Read the rest here

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 8, 2013

Chickens Coming Home to Roost

Next Post

November 9, 2013 The Obamacare 'Scandal' You Haven't Heard About

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Amy Steele Andre E. Johnson Book Reviews/Series Brian Foulks Call for Chapters Carol Howard Merritt Classes Conferences Contributors Crystal St.Marie Lewis Daniel White Hodge Earle Fisher Eulogy Fredrick Robinson Guest Contributions Henry McNeal Turner Institutes Interviews Joseph Boston Katherine Whitfield Kimberly Peeler-Ringer Lectures/Roundtables Natalie Bullock Brown R3 Book Series R3 Contributor Rashad Grove Readers Reflections Symposiums Teaching Traci Ellis Travis Harris Uncategorized Video

Select a Month June 2020 February 2020 December 2019 November 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 October 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz