Indian secondary school youths' understanding of sexual violence in their community in the age of HIV and AIDS: a participatory video approach
- Authors: Mahadev, Rekha
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Sex crimes , Indian youth -- Education (Secondary) , AIDS (Disease) , HIV infections
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/7522 , vital:21793
- Description: This study focuses on Indian secondary school youths’ understanding of sexual violence in their community in the age of HIV and AIDS, and the contribution that participatory video can make to address sexual violence. South Africa, apart from having the highest HIV prevalence in the world, also has the highest incidence of sexual violence. South African society often appears complacent about the high levels of sexual violence. In the Indian community, especially among the youth, sexual violence is also cause for concern. Much effort and energy has been expended in educating learners about sexual violence and HIV and AIDS with the objective of raising awareness of the dangers of engaging in risky sexual behaviour, and ultimately to empower and influence positive behaviour change. Because HIV prevalence in the Indian population is on the rise, Indian youth’s particular vulnerability is the reason for focusing on how they understand sexual violence in the age of AIDS. Besides the paucity of research on Indian youth and sexual violence, the methodologies which have been used produced research which is descriptive in nature and hence a methodological shift from traditional methodologies to a participatory visual methodology which has the potential for critically engaging the Indian youth on the issues of sexual violence, could contribute to research which has a social change focus. This qualitative research therefore uses a visual participatory methodology within a critical research paradigm, to explore and contribute to addressing the problem of sexual violence in the age of HIV and AIDS. The participants in the study, a sample of 20 Indian learners (10 boys and 10 girls), from a secondary school in Durban which has predominantly Indian learners, was purposively selected from Grade 11 classes. Participatory video enabled them to voice how they understand sexual violence and in doing so move towards reflecting on their own agency. The theory of triadic influence with its three streams, i.e. cultural attitudinal, social normative and intrapersonal, was used to make meaning of the findings. It also provided a frame for a fourth path, namely the preventive intervene. While participatory video enabled exploring Indian youths’ understanding of sexual violence in their community in the age of AIDS, it at the same time enabled them to reflect on, and perhaps begin to disrupt their understanding of the cultural attitudinal, social normative and the intrapersonal influences and how these influence their thinking about sexual violence. Two a priori themes were established prior to the analysis, to respond to how Indian youths understand sexual violence in the age of AIDS, and how participatory video can address sexual violence. The findings suggest that their understanding of sexual violence stems from a culture of concealment in which veiling sexual violence is the norm; that the vulnerability of youth increases as the experience of pressure from peers to engage in sexual violence increases; and that sexual violence is traumatising. The use of participatory video increased the youths’ reflexivity and created a space for them to explore how to take action. The findings imply that addressing sexual violence with Indian youth should begin with interrogating the cultural norms of masculinities and femininities, and the cultural practices rooted in traditional structures of the family and community which perpetuate gender disparities and the restriction of the autonomy of women and girls. Addressing issues of vulnerability and sexual violence should be the focus of all school and community interventions to ensure learners’ well-being and ability to resist negative peer pressure. These interventions should encourage self-reflection and raise social awareness through active participation and in so doing bring about social change in the Indian community. Vigorous participatory interventions which draw on the voices of the Indian youth as agents of social change in addressing sexual violence in the age of HIV and AIDS, is therefore urgent. The significance of this study as research as intervention is useful in enabling the exploration - with the Indian youth - of how cultural and religious norms, gender disparity, Indian masculinities and femininities, and social peer pressure feed into youth’s understanding of sexual violence and at the same time getting them to begin rethinking, challenging and disrupting these understandings where necessary. The study demonstrates that engaging youth affords them an opportunity to draw from their own experiences and through their own voices and actions create knowledge through participatory video, thereby making a contribution to visual methodologies and research around sexual violence and HIV and AIDS in their world.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Mahadev, Rekha
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Sex crimes , Indian youth -- Education (Secondary) , AIDS (Disease) , HIV infections
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/7522 , vital:21793
- Description: This study focuses on Indian secondary school youths’ understanding of sexual violence in their community in the age of HIV and AIDS, and the contribution that participatory video can make to address sexual violence. South Africa, apart from having the highest HIV prevalence in the world, also has the highest incidence of sexual violence. South African society often appears complacent about the high levels of sexual violence. In the Indian community, especially among the youth, sexual violence is also cause for concern. Much effort and energy has been expended in educating learners about sexual violence and HIV and AIDS with the objective of raising awareness of the dangers of engaging in risky sexual behaviour, and ultimately to empower and influence positive behaviour change. Because HIV prevalence in the Indian population is on the rise, Indian youth’s particular vulnerability is the reason for focusing on how they understand sexual violence in the age of AIDS. Besides the paucity of research on Indian youth and sexual violence, the methodologies which have been used produced research which is descriptive in nature and hence a methodological shift from traditional methodologies to a participatory visual methodology which has the potential for critically engaging the Indian youth on the issues of sexual violence, could contribute to research which has a social change focus. This qualitative research therefore uses a visual participatory methodology within a critical research paradigm, to explore and contribute to addressing the problem of sexual violence in the age of HIV and AIDS. The participants in the study, a sample of 20 Indian learners (10 boys and 10 girls), from a secondary school in Durban which has predominantly Indian learners, was purposively selected from Grade 11 classes. Participatory video enabled them to voice how they understand sexual violence and in doing so move towards reflecting on their own agency. The theory of triadic influence with its three streams, i.e. cultural attitudinal, social normative and intrapersonal, was used to make meaning of the findings. It also provided a frame for a fourth path, namely the preventive intervene. While participatory video enabled exploring Indian youths’ understanding of sexual violence in their community in the age of AIDS, it at the same time enabled them to reflect on, and perhaps begin to disrupt their understanding of the cultural attitudinal, social normative and the intrapersonal influences and how these influence their thinking about sexual violence. Two a priori themes were established prior to the analysis, to respond to how Indian youths understand sexual violence in the age of AIDS, and how participatory video can address sexual violence. The findings suggest that their understanding of sexual violence stems from a culture of concealment in which veiling sexual violence is the norm; that the vulnerability of youth increases as the experience of pressure from peers to engage in sexual violence increases; and that sexual violence is traumatising. The use of participatory video increased the youths’ reflexivity and created a space for them to explore how to take action. The findings imply that addressing sexual violence with Indian youth should begin with interrogating the cultural norms of masculinities and femininities, and the cultural practices rooted in traditional structures of the family and community which perpetuate gender disparities and the restriction of the autonomy of women and girls. Addressing issues of vulnerability and sexual violence should be the focus of all school and community interventions to ensure learners’ well-being and ability to resist negative peer pressure. These interventions should encourage self-reflection and raise social awareness through active participation and in so doing bring about social change in the Indian community. Vigorous participatory interventions which draw on the voices of the Indian youth as agents of social change in addressing sexual violence in the age of HIV and AIDS, is therefore urgent. The significance of this study as research as intervention is useful in enabling the exploration - with the Indian youth - of how cultural and religious norms, gender disparity, Indian masculinities and femininities, and social peer pressure feed into youth’s understanding of sexual violence and at the same time getting them to begin rethinking, challenging and disrupting these understandings where necessary. The study demonstrates that engaging youth affords them an opportunity to draw from their own experiences and through their own voices and actions create knowledge through participatory video, thereby making a contribution to visual methodologies and research around sexual violence and HIV and AIDS in their world.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Studies directed towards the synthesis of chromone carbaldehyde-derived HIV-1 protease inhibitors
- Authors: Molefe, Duduzile Mabel
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Protease Inhibitors , HIV infections , HIV (Viruses) , AIDS (Disease) , Proteolytic enzymes , Heterocyclic compounds -- Derivatives , Chemical kinetics , Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4526 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015542
- Description: A series of chromone-3-carbaldehydes have been prepared using Vilsmeier-Haack methodology while a corresponding series of chromone-2-carbaldeydes have been synthesized via the Kostanecki-Robinson reaction. Baylis-Hillman reactions have been conducted on both series of chromone carbaldehydes using three different catalysts, viz., 1,4-diazabicyclo(2.2.2]octane (DABCO), 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec- 7-ene (DBU) and 3-hydroxyquinuclidine (3HQ), and acrylonitrile, methyl acrylate and methyl vinyl ketone as the activated alkenes. These reactions have typically (but not always!) afforded both normal Baylis-Hillman and dimeric products. Attention has also been given to the use of 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidine (1-NMP), an ionic liquid, to replace normal organic solvents, and it has been found that, in the presence of DABCO, chromone-3-carbaldehydes afford the dimeric products alone. Reactions of chromone-3-carbaldehydes with methyl vinyl ketone have yielded unexpected, novel adducts, which appear to arise from preferential attack at C(2) in the chromone nucleus. Research on chromone-2-carbaldeydes under Baylis-Hillman conditions has also resulted in the formation of some interesting products instead of the expected Baylis-Hillman adducts. The Baylis-Hillman products have been explored as substrates for aza-Michael reactions using various amino derivatives including protected amino acids in the presence of the tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) and the ionic liquid, 3-butyl-1- methylimidazoleboranetetrafluoride (BmimBF₄), as catalysts. The aza-Michael products have been targeted as truncated ritonavir analogues for investigation as potential HIV -1 protease inhibitors, and representative compounds have been subjected to enzyme inhibition assays to explore the extent and type of inhibition. Lineweaver-Burk and Dixon plots have indicated competitive inhibition in one case as well as non-competitive inhibition in another, and the inhibition constants (Ki) have been compared with that of the ritonavir. Computer modelling studies have also been conducted on selected chromonecontaining derivatives, using the ACCELRYS Cerius² platform. Interactive docking of the chromone-containing ligands into the HIV -1 protease receptor site, using the Ligandfit module, has indicated the importance of hydrogen-bonding interactions mediated by bridging water molecules situated in the receptor cavity. NMR spectroscopy has been used to elucidate complex and competing mechanistic pathways involved in the Baylis-Hillman reactions of selected 2-nitrobenzaldehydes with MVK in the presence of DABCO - reactions which afford the normal BaylisHillman product, the MVK dimer and syn- and anti-Baylis-Hillman type diadducts. The kinetic data confirm the concomitant operation of two pathways and reveal that, in the initial stage of the reaction, the product distribution is kinetically controlled, whereas in the latter stage, thermodynamic control results in the consumption of the normal Baylis-Hillman product and predominance of the anti-diadduct.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
- Authors: Molefe, Duduzile Mabel
- Date: 2008
- Subjects: Protease Inhibitors , HIV infections , HIV (Viruses) , AIDS (Disease) , Proteolytic enzymes , Heterocyclic compounds -- Derivatives , Chemical kinetics , Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:4526 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015542
- Description: A series of chromone-3-carbaldehydes have been prepared using Vilsmeier-Haack methodology while a corresponding series of chromone-2-carbaldeydes have been synthesized via the Kostanecki-Robinson reaction. Baylis-Hillman reactions have been conducted on both series of chromone carbaldehydes using three different catalysts, viz., 1,4-diazabicyclo(2.2.2]octane (DABCO), 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec- 7-ene (DBU) and 3-hydroxyquinuclidine (3HQ), and acrylonitrile, methyl acrylate and methyl vinyl ketone as the activated alkenes. These reactions have typically (but not always!) afforded both normal Baylis-Hillman and dimeric products. Attention has also been given to the use of 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidine (1-NMP), an ionic liquid, to replace normal organic solvents, and it has been found that, in the presence of DABCO, chromone-3-carbaldehydes afford the dimeric products alone. Reactions of chromone-3-carbaldehydes with methyl vinyl ketone have yielded unexpected, novel adducts, which appear to arise from preferential attack at C(2) in the chromone nucleus. Research on chromone-2-carbaldeydes under Baylis-Hillman conditions has also resulted in the formation of some interesting products instead of the expected Baylis-Hillman adducts. The Baylis-Hillman products have been explored as substrates for aza-Michael reactions using various amino derivatives including protected amino acids in the presence of the tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) and the ionic liquid, 3-butyl-1- methylimidazoleboranetetrafluoride (BmimBF₄), as catalysts. The aza-Michael products have been targeted as truncated ritonavir analogues for investigation as potential HIV -1 protease inhibitors, and representative compounds have been subjected to enzyme inhibition assays to explore the extent and type of inhibition. Lineweaver-Burk and Dixon plots have indicated competitive inhibition in one case as well as non-competitive inhibition in another, and the inhibition constants (Ki) have been compared with that of the ritonavir. Computer modelling studies have also been conducted on selected chromonecontaining derivatives, using the ACCELRYS Cerius² platform. Interactive docking of the chromone-containing ligands into the HIV -1 protease receptor site, using the Ligandfit module, has indicated the importance of hydrogen-bonding interactions mediated by bridging water molecules situated in the receptor cavity. NMR spectroscopy has been used to elucidate complex and competing mechanistic pathways involved in the Baylis-Hillman reactions of selected 2-nitrobenzaldehydes with MVK in the presence of DABCO - reactions which afford the normal BaylisHillman product, the MVK dimer and syn- and anti-Baylis-Hillman type diadducts. The kinetic data confirm the concomitant operation of two pathways and reveal that, in the initial stage of the reaction, the product distribution is kinetically controlled, whereas in the latter stage, thermodynamic control results in the consumption of the normal Baylis-Hillman product and predominance of the anti-diadduct.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2008
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