Condom Semiotics: Meaning and Condom Use in Rural Malawi
Identifieur interne : 001669 ( Istex/Corpus ); précédent : 001668; suivant : 001670Condom Semiotics: Meaning and Condom Use in Rural Malawi
Auteurs : Iddo Tavory ; Ann SwidlerSource :
- American sociological review [ 0003-1224 ] ; 2009.
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Abstract
This article examines the widespread resistance to condom use in sub-Saharan Africa by describing the major semiotic axes that organize how people talk about condoms and condom use. These axes include the “sweetness” of sex, trust and love between sexual partners, and assessments of risk and danger. Using data from rural Malawi, we show that framing the meaning of condoms as a simple choice between risky behavior and rational attempts to protect one's health ignores the complex semiotic space that Malawians navigate. Based on data from more than 600 diaries that record rural Malawians' everyday conversations, our analysis charts the semiotic axes related to condom use. Semiotic constraints operate most powerfully at the level of relationships. Condom use signifies a risky, less serious, and less intimate partner. Even when people believe that condom use is appropriate, wise, or even a matter of life and death, the statement that condom use makes about a relationship usually trumps all other meanings. We call for a more nuanced analysis of culture, one that is attentive to the ways agents navigate multiple, contested meanings, and that demonstrates how specific semiotic axes are brought to bear in particular interactional contexts.
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DOI: 10.1177/000312240907400201
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These axes include the “sweetness” of sex, trust and love between sexual partners, and assessments of risk and danger. Using data from rural Malawi, we show that framing the meaning of condoms as a simple choice between risky behavior and rational attempts to protect one's health ignores the complex semiotic space that Malawians navigate. Based on data from more than 600 diaries that record rural Malawians' everyday conversations, our analysis charts the semiotic axes related to condom use. Semiotic constraints operate most powerfully at the level of relationships. Condom use signifies a risky, less serious, and less intimate partner. Even when people believe that condom use is appropriate, wise, or even a matter of life and death, the statement that condom use makes about a relationship usually trumps all other meanings. 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We call for a more nuanced analysis of culture, one that is attentive to the ways agents navigate multiple, contested meanings, and that demonstrates how specific semiotic axes are brought to bear in particular interactional contexts.</abstract><qualityIndicators><score>7.84</score><pdfVersion>1.4</pdfVersion><pdfPageSize>486 x 714 pts</pdfPageSize><refBibsNative>true</refBibsNative><abstractCharCount>1250</abstractCharCount><pdfWordCount>11653</pdfWordCount><pdfCharCount>70531</pdfCharCount><pdfPageCount>19</pdfPageCount><abstractWordCount>195</abstractWordCount></qualityIndicators><title>Condom Semiotics: Meaning and Condom Use in Rural Malawi</title><genre><json:string>research-article</json:string></genre><host><title>American Sociological Review</title><language><json:string>unknown</json:string></language><issn><json:string>0003-1224</json:string></issn><eissn><json:string>1939-8271</json:string></eissn><publisherId><json:string>ASR</json:string></publisherId><volume>74</volume><issue>2</issue><pages><first>171</first><last>189</last></pages><genre><json:string>journal</json:string></genre></host><categories><wos><json:string>social science</json:string><json:string>sociology</json:string></wos><scienceMetrix><json:string>economic & social sciences</json:string><json:string>social sciences</json:string><json:string>sociology</json:string></scienceMetrix><inist><json:string>sciences humaines et sociales</json:string><json:string>ethnologie</json:string></inist></categories><publicationDate>2009</publicationDate><copyrightDate>2009</copyrightDate><doi><json:string>10.1177/000312240907400201</json:string></doi><id>454A569C1D839600ADFBAEEAEF52BF52384CDD99</id><score>1</score><fulltext><json:item><extension>pdf</extension><original>true</original><mimetype>application/pdf</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/454A569C1D839600ADFBAEEAEF52BF52384CDD99/fulltext/pdf</uri></json:item><json:item><extension>zip</extension><original>false</original><mimetype>application/zip</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/454A569C1D839600ADFBAEEAEF52BF52384CDD99/fulltext/zip</uri></json:item><istex:fulltextTEI uri="https://api.istex.fr/document/454A569C1D839600ADFBAEEAEF52BF52384CDD99/fulltext/tei"><teiHeader><fileDesc><titleStmt><title level="a" type="main" xml:lang="en">Condom Semiotics: Meaning and Condom Use in Rural Malawi</title></titleStmt><publicationStmt><authority>ISTEX</authority><publisher scheme="https://publisher-list.data.istex.fr">SAGE Publications</publisher><pubPlace>Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA</pubPlace><availability><licence><p>© 2009 American Sociological Association</p></licence><p scheme="https://loaded-corpus.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/XBH-0J1N7DQT-B">sage</p></availability><date>2009</date></publicationStmt><notesStmt><note type="research-article" scheme="https://content-type.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/XTP-1JC4F85T-7">research-article</note><note type="journal" scheme="https://publication-type.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/JMC-0GLKJH51-B">journal</note><note>Susan Watkins, Georges Reniers, and Kim Yi Dionne offered intellectual support and practical help at every stage of the research and writing. Philip Anglewicz and Kim Yi Dionne prepared Figure 1. Robert Bellah, Claude Fischer, Richard Madsen, Tom Pessah, William Sullivan, and Steven Tipton provided valuable feedback on an earlier draft. In Malawi, we would like to thank the interviewers McDaphton Bellos, Richards Bossom, Fanizo George, Esnat Sanudi, and Rosemary Sapangwa. We also want to thank Mara Grynaviski, Jonathan Vespa, and the anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly strengthened the article.</note><note>The first author was supported by grants from NICHD (RO1HD/MH41713, P.I.: Watkins, and R01 HD044228, P.I. Kohler, Hans-Peter) and the second author by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Committee on Research of the University of California, Berkeley.</note></notesStmt><sourceDesc><biblStruct type="inbook"><analytic><title level="a" type="main" xml:lang="en">Condom Semiotics: Meaning and Condom Use in Rural Malawi</title><author xml:id="author-0000"><persName><forename type="first">Iddo</forename><surname>Tavory</surname></persName><note type="biography">Susan Watkins, Georges Reniers, and Kim Yi Dionne offered intellectual support and practical help at every stage of the research and writing. Philip Anglewicz and Kim Yi Dionne prepared Figure 1. Robert Bellah, Claude Fischer, Richard Madsen, Tom Pessah, William Sullivan, and Steven Tipton provided valuable feedback on an earlier draft. In Malawi, we would like to thank the interviewers McDaphton Bellos, Richards Bossom, Fanizo George, Esnat Sanudi, and Rosemary Sapangwa. We also want to thank Mara Grynaviski, Jonathan Vespa, and the anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly strengthened the article.</note><affiliation>Susan Watkins, Georges Reniers, and Kim Yi Dionne offered intellectual support and practical help at every stage of the research and writing. Philip Anglewicz and Kim Yi Dionne prepared Figure 1. Robert Bellah, Claude Fischer, Richard Madsen, Tom Pessah, William Sullivan, and Steven Tipton provided valuable feedback on an earlier draft. In Malawi, we would like to thank the interviewers McDaphton Bellos, Richards Bossom, Fanizo George, Esnat Sanudi, and Rosemary Sapangwa. We also want to thank Mara Grynaviski, Jonathan Vespa, and the anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly strengthened the article.</affiliation><affiliation></affiliation><affiliation>University of California-Los Angeles</affiliation><affiliation>University of California-Berkeley</affiliation></author><author xml:id="author-0001"><persName><forename type="first">Ann</forename><surname>Swidler</surname></persName><note type="biography">Susan Watkins, Georges Reniers, and Kim Yi Dionne offered intellectual support and practical help at every stage of the research and writing. Philip Anglewicz and Kim Yi Dionne prepared Figure 1. Robert Bellah, Claude Fischer, Richard Madsen, Tom Pessah, William Sullivan, and Steven Tipton provided valuable feedback on an earlier draft. In Malawi, we would like to thank the interviewers McDaphton Bellos, Richards Bossom, Fanizo George, Esnat Sanudi, and Rosemary Sapangwa. We also want to thank Mara Grynaviski, Jonathan Vespa, and the anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly strengthened the article.</note><affiliation>Susan Watkins, Georges Reniers, and Kim Yi Dionne offered intellectual support and practical help at every stage of the research and writing. Philip Anglewicz and Kim Yi Dionne prepared Figure 1. Robert Bellah, Claude Fischer, Richard Madsen, Tom Pessah, William Sullivan, and Steven Tipton provided valuable feedback on an earlier draft. In Malawi, we would like to thank the interviewers McDaphton Bellos, Richards Bossom, Fanizo George, Esnat Sanudi, and Rosemary Sapangwa. We also want to thank Mara Grynaviski, Jonathan Vespa, and the anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly strengthened the article.</affiliation><affiliation></affiliation><affiliation>University of California-Los Angeles</affiliation><affiliation>University of California-Berkeley</affiliation></author><idno type="istex">454A569C1D839600ADFBAEEAEF52BF52384CDD99</idno><idno type="ark">ark:/67375/M70-DRTCPQP5-J</idno><idno type="DOI">10.1177/000312240907400201</idno><idno type="article-id">10.1177_000312240907400201</idno></analytic><monogr><title level="j">American sociological review</title><title level="j" type="abbrev">Am Sociol Rev</title><idno type="pISSN">0003-1224</idno><idno type="eISSN">1939-8271</idno><idno type="publisher-id">ASR</idno><idno type="PublisherID-hwp">spasr</idno><idno type="PublisherID-nlm-ta">Am Sociol Rev</idno><imprint><publisher>SAGE Publications</publisher><pubPlace>Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA</pubPlace><date type="published" when="2009"></date><biblScope unit="volume">74</biblScope><biblScope unit="issue">2</biblScope><biblScope unit="page" from="171">171</biblScope><biblScope unit="page" to="189">189</biblScope></imprint></monogr></biblStruct></sourceDesc></fileDesc><profileDesc><creation><date>2009</date></creation><langUsage><language ident="en">en</language></langUsage><abstract xml:lang="en"><p>This article examines the widespread resistance to condom use in sub-Saharan Africa by describing the major semiotic axes that organize how people talk about condoms and condom use. These axes include the “sweetness” of sex, trust and love between sexual partners, and assessments of risk and danger. Using data from rural Malawi, we show that framing the meaning of condoms as a simple choice between risky behavior and rational attempts to protect one's health ignores the complex semiotic space that Malawians navigate. Based on data from more than 600 diaries that record rural Malawians' everyday conversations, our analysis charts the semiotic axes related to condom use. Semiotic constraints operate most powerfully at the level of relationships. Condom use signifies a risky, less serious, and less intimate partner. Even when people believe that condom use is appropriate, wise, or even a matter of life and death, the statement that condom use makes about a relationship usually trumps all other meanings. We call for a more nuanced analysis of culture, one that is attentive to the ways agents navigate multiple, contested meanings, and that demonstrates how specific semiotic axes are brought to bear in particular interactional contexts.</p></abstract></profileDesc><revisionDesc><change when="2009">Published</change></revisionDesc></teiHeader></istex:fulltextTEI><json:item><extension>txt</extension><original>false</original><mimetype>text/plain</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/454A569C1D839600ADFBAEEAEF52BF52384CDD99/fulltext/txt</uri></json:item></fulltext><metadata><istex:metadataXml wicri:clean="corpus sage not found" wicri:toSee="no header"><istex:xmlDeclaration>version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"</istex:xmlDeclaration><istex:docType PUBLIC="-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v2.3 20070202//EN" URI="journalpublishing.dtd" name="istex:docType"></istex:docType><istex:document><article article-type="research-article" dtd-version="2.3" xml:lang="EN"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">ASR</journal-id><journal-id journal-id-type="hwp">spasr</journal-id><journal-id journal-id-type="nlm-ta">Am Sociol Rev</journal-id><journal-title>American Sociological Review</journal-title><issn pub-type="ppub">0003-1224</issn><issn pub-type="epub">1939-8271</issn><publisher><publisher-name>SAGE Publications</publisher-name><publisher-loc>Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA</publisher-loc></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1177/000312240907400201</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">10.1177_000312240907400201</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="heading"><subject>Articles</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>Condom Semiotics: Meaning and Condom Use in Rural Malawi</article-title></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Tavory</surname><given-names>Iddo</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1-000312240907400201"></xref><xref ref-type="corresp" rid="corresp1-000312240907400201"></xref></contrib><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Swidler</surname><given-names>Ann</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2-000312240907400201"></xref></contrib></contrib-group><aff id="aff1-000312240907400201">University of California-Los Angeles</aff><aff id="aff2-000312240907400201">University of California-Berkeley</aff><author-notes><corresp id="corresp1-000312240907400201">The first author was supported by grants from NICHD (RO1HD/MH41713, P.I.: Watkins, and R01 HD044228, P.I. Kohler, Hans-Peter) and the second author by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Committee on Research of the University of California, Berkeley.</corresp><fn fn-type="other" id="author-notes1-000312240907400201"><p>Susan Watkins, Georges Reniers, and Kim Yi Dionne offered intellectual support and practical help at every stage of the research and writing. Philip Anglewicz and Kim Yi Dionne prepared Figure 1. Robert Bellah, Claude Fischer, Richard Madsen, Tom Pessah, William Sullivan, and Steven Tipton provided valuable feedback on an earlier draft. In Malawi, we would like to thank the interviewers McDaphton Bellos, Richards Bossom, Fanizo George, Esnat Sanudi, and Rosemary Sapangwa. We also want to thank Mara Grynaviski, Jonathan Vespa, and the anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly strengthened the article.</p></fn></author-notes><pub-date pub-type="epub-ppub"><month>4</month><year>2009</year></pub-date><volume>74</volume><issue>2</issue><fpage>171</fpage><lpage>189</lpage><permissions><copyright-statement>© 2009 American Sociological Association</copyright-statement><copyright-year>2009</copyright-year><copyright-holder content-type="society">American Sociological Association</copyright-holder></permissions><abstract><p>This article examines the widespread resistance to condom use in sub-Saharan Africa by describing the major semiotic axes that organize how people talk about condoms and condom use. These axes include the “sweetness” of sex, trust and love between sexual partners, and assessments of risk and danger. Using data from rural Malawi, we show that framing the meaning of condoms as a simple choice between risky behavior and rational attempts to protect one's health ignores the complex semiotic space that Malawians navigate. Based on data from more than 600 diaries that record rural Malawians' everyday conversations, our analysis charts the semiotic axes related to condom use. Semiotic constraints operate most powerfully at the level of relationships. Condom use signifies a risky, less serious, and less intimate partner. Even when people believe that condom use is appropriate, wise, or even a matter of life and death, the statement that condom use makes about a relationship usually trumps all other meanings. We call for a more nuanced analysis of culture, one that is attentive to the ways agents navigate multiple, contested meanings, and that demonstrates how specific semiotic axes are brought to bear in particular interactional contexts.</p></abstract></article-meta></front><back><ref-list><title>REFERENCES</title><ref id="bibr1-000312240907400201"><citation citation-type="book" xlink:type="simple"><person-group person-group-type="author"><name name-style="western"><surname>Alexander</surname><given-names>Jeffrey C.</given-names></name></person-group><year>1988</year>. <source>Action and Its Environments: Toward a New Synthesis</source>. <publisher-loc>New York</publisher-loc>: <publisher-name>Columbia University Press</publisher-name>.</citation></ref><ref id="bibr2-000312240907400201"><citation citation-type="journal" xlink:type="simple"><person-group person-group-type="author"><name name-style="western"><surname>Alexander</surname><given-names>Jeffrey C.</given-names></name><name name-style="western"><surname>Smith</surname><given-names>Philip</given-names></name></person-group>.<year>1993</year>. <article-title>“The Discourse of American Civil Society: A New Proposal for Cultural Studies.”</article-title>
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<volume>1</volume>: CD003255.</citation></ref></ref-list></back></article></istex:document></istex:metadataXml><mods version="3.6"><titleInfo lang="en"><title>Condom Semiotics: Meaning and Condom Use in Rural Malawi</title></titleInfo><titleInfo type="alternative" lang="en" contentType="CDATA"><title>Condom Semiotics: Meaning and Condom Use in Rural Malawi</title></titleInfo><name type="personal"><namePart type="given">Iddo</namePart><namePart type="family">Tavory</namePart><affiliation></affiliation><affiliation>University of California-Los Angeles</affiliation><affiliation>University of California-Berkeley</affiliation><role><roleTerm type="text">author</roleTerm></role><description>Susan Watkins, Georges Reniers, and Kim Yi Dionne offered intellectual support and practical help at every stage of the research and writing. Philip Anglewicz and Kim Yi Dionne prepared Figure 1. Robert Bellah, Claude Fischer, Richard Madsen, Tom Pessah, William Sullivan, and Steven Tipton provided valuable feedback on an earlier draft. In Malawi, we would like to thank the interviewers McDaphton Bellos, Richards Bossom, Fanizo George, Esnat Sanudi, and Rosemary Sapangwa. We also want to thank Mara Grynaviski, Jonathan Vespa, and the anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly strengthened the article.</description></name><name type="personal"><namePart type="given">Ann</namePart><namePart type="family">Swidler</namePart><affiliation></affiliation><affiliation>University of California-Los Angeles</affiliation><affiliation>University of California-Berkeley</affiliation><role><roleTerm type="text">author</roleTerm></role><description>Susan Watkins, Georges Reniers, and Kim Yi Dionne offered intellectual support and practical help at every stage of the research and writing. Philip Anglewicz and Kim Yi Dionne prepared Figure 1. Robert Bellah, Claude Fischer, Richard Madsen, Tom Pessah, William Sullivan, and Steven Tipton provided valuable feedback on an earlier draft. In Malawi, we would like to thank the interviewers McDaphton Bellos, Richards Bossom, Fanizo George, Esnat Sanudi, and Rosemary Sapangwa. We also want to thank Mara Grynaviski, Jonathan Vespa, and the anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly strengthened the article.</description></name><typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource><genre type="research-article" displayLabel="research-article" authority="ISTEX" authorityURI="https://content-type.data.istex.fr" valueURI="https://content-type.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/XTP-1JC4F85T-7">research-article</genre><originInfo><publisher>SAGE Publications</publisher><place><placeTerm type="text">Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA</placeTerm></place><dateIssued encoding="w3cdtf">2009</dateIssued><copyrightDate encoding="w3cdtf">2009</copyrightDate></originInfo><language><languageTerm type="code" authority="iso639-2b">eng</languageTerm><languageTerm type="code" authority="rfc3066">en</languageTerm></language><abstract lang="en">This article examines the widespread resistance to condom use in sub-Saharan Africa by describing the major semiotic axes that organize how people talk about condoms and condom use. These axes include the “sweetness” of sex, trust and love between sexual partners, and assessments of risk and danger. Using data from rural Malawi, we show that framing the meaning of condoms as a simple choice between risky behavior and rational attempts to protect one's health ignores the complex semiotic space that Malawians navigate. Based on data from more than 600 diaries that record rural Malawians' everyday conversations, our analysis charts the semiotic axes related to condom use. Semiotic constraints operate most powerfully at the level of relationships. Condom use signifies a risky, less serious, and less intimate partner. Even when people believe that condom use is appropriate, wise, or even a matter of life and death, the statement that condom use makes about a relationship usually trumps all other meanings. We call for a more nuanced analysis of culture, one that is attentive to the ways agents navigate multiple, contested meanings, and that demonstrates how specific semiotic axes are brought to bear in particular interactional contexts.</abstract><note type="footnotes">Susan Watkins, Georges Reniers, and Kim Yi Dionne offered intellectual support and practical help at every stage of the research and writing. Philip Anglewicz and Kim Yi Dionne prepared Figure 1. Robert Bellah, Claude Fischer, Richard Madsen, Tom Pessah, William Sullivan, and Steven Tipton provided valuable feedback on an earlier draft. In Malawi, we would like to thank the interviewers McDaphton Bellos, Richards Bossom, Fanizo George, Esnat Sanudi, and Rosemary Sapangwa. We also want to thank Mara Grynaviski, Jonathan Vespa, and the anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly strengthened the article.</note><note type="author-notes">The first author was supported by grants from NICHD (RO1HD/MH41713, P.I.: Watkins, and R01 HD044228, P.I. Kohler, Hans-Peter) and the second author by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and the Committee on Research of the University of California, Berkeley.</note><relatedItem type="host"><titleInfo><title>American sociological review</title></titleInfo><titleInfo type="abbreviated"><title>Am Sociol Rev</title></titleInfo><genre type="journal" authority="ISTEX" authorityURI="https://publication-type.data.istex.fr" valueURI="https://publication-type.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/JMC-0GLKJH51-B">journal</genre><identifier type="ISSN">0003-1224</identifier><identifier type="eISSN">1939-8271</identifier><identifier type="PublisherID">ASR</identifier><identifier type="PublisherID-hwp">spasr</identifier><identifier type="PublisherID-nlm-ta">Am Sociol Rev</identifier><part><date>2009</date><detail type="volume"><caption>vol.</caption><number>74</number></detail><detail type="issue"><caption>no.</caption><number>2</number></detail><extent unit="pages"><start>171</start><end>189</end></extent></part></relatedItem><identifier type="istex">454A569C1D839600ADFBAEEAEF52BF52384CDD99</identifier><identifier type="ark">ark:/67375/M70-DRTCPQP5-J</identifier><identifier type="DOI">10.1177/000312240907400201</identifier><identifier type="ArticleID">10.1177_000312240907400201</identifier><accessCondition type="use and reproduction" contentType="copyright">© 2009 American Sociological Association</accessCondition><recordInfo><recordContentSource authority="ISTEX" authorityURI="https://loaded-corpus.data.istex.fr" valueURI="https://loaded-corpus.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/XBH-0J1N7DQT-B">sage</recordContentSource><recordOrigin>© 2009 American Sociological Association</recordOrigin></recordInfo></mods><json:item><extension>json</extension><original>false</original><mimetype>application/json</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/454A569C1D839600ADFBAEEAEF52BF52384CDD99/metadata/json</uri></json:item></metadata><serie></serie></istex></record>Pour manipuler ce document sous Unix (Dilib)
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