Rhetoric(s) of the Black Church: Sex, Religion, and HIV/AIDS Across the African Diaspora

[摘要] This dissertation examines the rhetorical strategies, underpinnings, and justifications of Black Disaporic religious rhetoric and pastoral communication surrounding the HIV/AIDS crisis that disproportionately affects people of African descent. Specifically, this dissertation focuses on three areas of the world currently ravaged by AIDS--sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States--as they can best provide a representative sample of both world-wide HIV/AIDS cases and diverse Christian churches that speak to the multitudes on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis through a culturally geographic and theologically grounded rhetoric. This study employs rhetorical criticism, oral history theory, and critical ethnography as lenses in examining the representative samples of pastoral communication collected in Africa (Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa), the Caribbean (Jamaica and the Bahamas) and the Washington, D.C. area.Together, over thirty-five Protestant pastors, bishops, and religious leaders of African descent from these respective regions were interviewed for this study. Additionally several African, Caribbean, and African-American faith-based, medical and non-governmental organizational leaders were interviewed. Excerpts of HIV/AIDS religious rhetorics used in this dissertation suggest that there is a struggle deep within the soul of the church that is fluidly situated within a highly nuanced Du Boisian double-consciousness, in terms of the religious response to HIV/AIDS as it cuts across sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender, in particular. Thus, each chapter of this dissertation gives critical attention to the suasive strategies employed by religious leaders as they seek to reconcile salient and subtle tensions identified within their pulpitized religious rhetorics on HIV/AIDS with the wider social, epidemiological, and etiological contexts, intersections, and implications of their religiously grounded messages.

[发布机构] the University of Pittsburgh