Analyze how “stigma” operates in the novel and with what consequences/effects?
The word “stigma” comes from the Greek origin which can be defined as the negative and often unfair beliefs that a society has about a particular circumstance. It is the mark of disgrace that the society has with a certain situation. Living in the society, we get along with people’s various negative stereotypes. The novel “Chanda’s Secrets” is a society-based story which deals with many stigmatic situations. The novel is mostly found to be bounded by the stigma about the deadly disease, HIV/AIDS in the Sub-Saharan African society. It mentions about the extreme level of fear and shame that people infected with AIDS and their families feel due to which they tend to
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Tafa gets horrified. Mrs. Tafa hated her because she was the daughter of the parents who died of AIDS and there was the probability that even Esther had AIDS. She didn’t want
Esther to be staying with them because she thought about how the society would react when they get to know about this situation. She thought that this would affect her social prestige in a negative way.
Lilian’s own mother and sister left her in a cattle post just to protect their family name. “This is a small village. We didn’t know what else to do.” (Stratton, pg.177). This is the line said by Chanda’s Granny when Chanda went to Tiro being curious about what had happened to her mother as she hadn’t heard from her. They had kept her in a faraway cattle post so that the neighborhood would not have the slightest idea about what was going on.
They left her alone because her family in Tiro didn’t want her sickness to shame her entire family. Even when Mrs. Tafa came to know that Lilian had AIDS and she was returning to
Bonang, she didn’t like it because they were neighbors and she thought that it would be hard to conceal her disease from the society. She had also taken it as a matter of
Even after the disease and its modes of transmission had been correctly identified, fear and ignorance remained widespread. In the mid 1980s, “AIDS hysteria” became a well known term in the media and public life. For example, a magazine published details about how extensive AIDS/HIV related discrimination became. “Anxiety over AIDS in some parts of the U.S. is verging on hysteria,” the authors wrote; they later published this disturbing example:
One important scene in the film ‘The Age of Aids’ is “Port Au Prince, Haiti”. In this scene it outlines the conditions in Haiti, which were very poor and it turn left the city defenseless against the new disease. In 70’s and 80’s the disease began to be seen by doctors and priests who were being sought after to cure a unseen disease which left the people with the “look of death, [making them] so skinny you could see their bones”. The scene then goes on to take a look at one of the first HIV clinics in Port Au Prince, which was opened in the roughest parts of town. One of the surprising things that this clinic found when they were looking at the patients coming in was that the mean they were analyzing had more contact with women then they had with men. This was extremely interesting because this was completely different from what the pattern of the disease had been in the US. The doctors believed this was because homosexual males had been coming into Haiti as tourists and where having sex with locals, who in comparison didn’t call themselves homosexuals because even though they had been having sex with men, the number of women they were having sex with greatly outnumbered the men. This was extremely important because it allowed people to open their eyes, and realize that this was not a homosexual disease, that anyone could get the disease. And that’s exactly what happened within the Haitian community. Within three years the disease had spread across the entire island effects all aspects of society. This scene was effective because it is able to change a viewer with little knowledge of the disease to understand how doctors were able to come to the conclusion that the disease was not in fact a homosexual ...
When Esther is finally through with Dr. Gordon’s shock treatments, she expresses her frustration with her mother, who brushes it aside and tells Esther that she wasn’t like “Those awful dead people at that hospital (145-146). Her mother doesn’t understand the scene Esther saw, with the stories of people and their first shock treatments. She does not realize the vitality of Esther’s conditions. When Esther considers converting to Catholicism, believing that her conversion will take away her suicide attempts, her mother laughs it off. Esther also notes that her mother did not care to mourn for her dead husband. Her mother believed that her husband would’ve lived a miserable life and would’ve wanted to die instead. Although Esther was firm in her stance against her mother, she could have acted so hostile against her mother because of what she was going through. Her mother could have wanted to help her, but her way was possibly different than that of
...llness. A Report on the Fifth International Stigma Conference . June 4–6, 2012. Ottawa, Canada
The goal of the treatment is to boost Precious’ self-esteem, to change her perception of her racial status, to change the way she idealizes men, and to decrease the negative effect of HIV stigma by encouraging
Throughout her presentation, she explains how public stigmas, once again, cause label avoidance pushing many who need help away from treatment. She then goes on to explain how these stereotyped behaviors cause discrimination towards people with a mental illness from employment to housing which only leads to the creation of more stigmas. Finally, she states how the impact of stigmas is associated with the reduction of self-esteem, overall poor health, and problems with interpersonal relationships (Willits). By using this presentation I am able to connect what we have learned about mental health stigmas to my article. First off, for example, Morris explains how psychiatric units invoke people to imagine a frightening place where insane patients are strapped down and poked and prodded for care (Morris). This stereotypical idea relates to how Willits described general stereotypes associated with mental illness such as crazy and dangerous (Willits). On top of that, Willits explained how these stigmas have negative consequences for patients (Willits). This relates to Morris’s explanation on how the stigma around institutions has caused these units to shut down forcing many people to be homeless or live in jail
Lastly, I would like to mention something that should be mentioned for the sake of mentioning. As said in the book as well in class, there have been multiple cases of sexual deviance between two males. This cause of AIDS, I found, was not mentioned enough in the book. Although there may be contributing factors as to why it wasn’t, I personally feel that this would be a major factor to the cause of the infection. “Scientists proposed that Haitians may have contracted the virus from monkeys as part of sexual practices in Haitian brothels . . . AIDS might be transmitted between Haitians by voodoo rites, the ingestion of sacrificial animal blood, the eating of cats, ritualized homosexuality.” (Farmer 224) All in all, AIDS & ACCUSATION, however criticized the book may be, inevitably captures the essence of anthropology.
One of the main reasons why Esther tried to commit suicide was the way she perceived her mother's actions, and the fact that she hates her mother:
In the article Issues and Controversies says, "Throughout most of human history, people with mental illness were ostracized, isolated, and persecuted." ( Infobase,1) This belief system can give causation of mental illness in different cultures and such influences in a community will always be in a negative manner. Various societies struggle with the notion of mental health. The standards of every culture believe to be considered normal, natural, or healthy. These views lead to disagreements about the causes, diagnosis, and the treatment of the disorders. Many people with mental problems are discriminated against because of their mental disorder. Mental illness and stigma refers to the view of the person with mental illness as having undesirable traits. Stigma leads to negative behavior, stereotyping, and discriminatory behavior towards the person with mental health issues. This stigma causes the affected person to experience denial or shame of their condition. Perceived stigma can result in the patient being scared to seek help. Stigma can be divided into two perspectives, public and self stigma. Upadhyay says, "Public stigma occurs when the general
Both the sisters have repeatedly been abandoned throughout the novel. Especially Ruth, as she was first abandoned by their mother Helen, who left both the sisters with their grandmother’s before fleeing off in her car, and later when Lucille leaves her with Sylvie after she’s had enough of Sylvie’s lifestyle. Lucille’s abandonment was the most tough out of all as she had always spoken for Ruth. “When Lucille closed the door behind her the house seemed very empty” (Robinson. P.273). Ruth is also disowned and rejected by the townspeople when both Ruth and Sylvie leave town after burning down their house, because the townspeople did not support the idea of self-sufficient homeless women.
It’s hard to believe all of this. Over the years, the Lord knows what happened.” While David let his parents see his children, Louise blocked her family out of their lives after leaving home 19 years ago when she got married, according to Dearly. Louise's sister, Elizabeth Jane Flores, told the Daily Mail "We would talk on the phone from time to time, but every time I would ask to talk to her kids, she wouldn't let me.” Louise's other sister, Teresa Robinette, said their parents begged to see their grandchildren, but they were never allowed, and her sister didn't even bother to come to their parents funerals.
Self-stigma refers to the extent of self-concurrence with negative stereotypes of mental illness and to the extent to which these self-stigmatizing thoughts emerge habitually in everyday life. Self-stigma can occur at an unconscious, uncontrollable, unintentional, or efficient way. An unconscious way, is when an individual is having self-stigmatizing thoughts without being aware. An efficient way, is when an individual uses minimal attention to have self-stigmatizing thoughts. An unintentional way, is when the individual has no need for having self-stigmatizing thoughts but still has them. Lastly, an uncontrollable way is when the individual has a difficult time trying to get rid of the self-stigmatizing thoughts. If an individual cannot cope well with their self-stigma then it leads to even more frequent self-stigmatizing thoughts. This can lead to the self-stigmatizing thoughts to become a mental habit. This means that the self-stigmatizing thoughts become more repetitive and automatic. Not only can self-stigmatizing thoughts become a mental habit, but it can also result with label avoidance. Label avoidance has to do with the unwillingness to experience these stigmatizing thoughts and purposely trying to avoid them. However, label avoidance can actually make the self-stigma even worse. Label avoidance can actually increase the frequency of the thoughts. This can eventually lead to habitual
There is many sources of the stigma but one of the main source is people’s ignorance
Stigma is a powerful tool of social control. Stigma can be used to marginalize, exclude and exercise power over individuals who show certain characteristics. While the societal rejection of certain social groups (e.g. 'homosexuals, injecting drug users, sex workers') may predate HIV/AIDS, the disease has, in many cases, reinforced this stigma. By blaming certain individuals or groups, society can excuse itself from the responsibility of caring for and looking after such populations. This is seen not only in the manner in which 'outsider' groups are often blamed for bringing HIV into a country, but also in how such groups are denied access to the services and treatment they need.