African identity must be central to research on African health and development. This article focuses on three primary themes for advancing a different vision for understanding health issues in Africa. The first is the need to deconstruct conventional assumptions and theories that have been used to frame public health problems and solutions in Africa. The second is to insist that identity be central to how we frame issues of health and behavior in general and in Africa in particular. The third is the importance of the notion of “social cultural infrastructure” in defining African ways of knowing to guide public health research and intervention in Africa. Finally, the metaphor of the “African gate” is used to illuminate these themes while drawing on examples from an HIV- and AIDS-related stigma research in South Africa and its implications for addressing the critical global public-health issues of today.
Achebe, C. (1988). Colonialists’ criticism. In Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays. New York: Anchor Books.
2.
Achebe, C. (2000). Home and exile. New York: Anchor Books.
3.
Airhihenbuwa, C. O. (1995). Health and culture: Beyond the Western paradigm. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
4.
Airhihenbuwa, C. O. (1999). Of culture and multiverse: Renouncing “the universal truth” in health. Journal of Health Education, 30, 267-273.
5.
Airhihenbuwa, C. O. (2005). Theorizing cultural identity and behaviour in social science research. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos. 3-4, pp. 17-19.
6.
Airhihenbuwa, C. O. (2006). Healing our differences: The global crisis of health and politics of identity. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
7.
Airhihenbuwa, C. O., & Webster, J. D. (2004). Culture and African contexts of HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and support. Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research Alliance, 1, 4-13.
8.
Bhabha, H. (1994). The location of culture. New York: Routledge.
9.
Chomsky, N. (1989). Necessary illusion: Thought control in democratic societies. Boston: South End.
10.
Davidson, B. (1969). The African genius. Boston: Little, Brown.
11.
Davidson, B. (Writer/Presenter), Percival, J., Ralling, C., Harries, A., & Csaky, M. (Directors). (1986). Africa [Videotape]. Chicago: Films Inc.
12.
Diop, C. A. (1991). Civilization or barbarism: An authentic anthropology. Brooklyn, NY: Lawrence Hill Books.
13.
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1969). The souls of Black folk: Essays and sketches (22nd ed.). Greenwich, CT: Crest Books.
14.
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1996). The Philadelphia Negro, a social study. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. (Original work published 1899)
15.
Fanon, F. (1958). Black skin, White mask. London: Penguin.
16.
Fanon, F. (1968). The wretched of the earth. New York: Grove.
17.
Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on management of spoiled identity. New York: Simon & Schuster.
18.
Herek, G. M., Capitanio, J. P., & Widaman, K. F. (2002). HIV-related stigma and knowledge in the United States: Prevalence and trends, 1991-1999. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 371-377.
19.
Keita, L. (2004). Philosophy and development. On the problematic of African development: A diachronic analysis. African Development, 29, 131-160.
20.
Macamo, E. (2005). Against development. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos. 3-4, pp. 5-7.
21.
Makoni, S. (2003). From misinvention to disinvention of language: Multilingualism and the South African Constitution. In S. Makoni, G. Smitherman, A. Ball, & A. Spears (Eds.), Black linguistics, language, society, and politics in Africa and the Americas (pp. 132-153). London and New York: Routledge.
22.
Makoni, S., & Meinhof, U. (2004). Western perspectives on applied linguistics in Africa. AILA Review, 17, 77-104.
23.
Mazrui, A. A. (1986). The Africans: A triple heritage. Boston: Little, Brown.
24.
Mkandawire, T. (2005). African intellectuals: Rethinking politics, language, gender and development. London: Dakar and Zed Books.
25.
Minh-ha, T. T. (1991). When the moon waxes red: Representation, gender and cultural politics. New York: Routledge.
26.
Mudimbe, V. Y. (1988). The invention of Africa: Gnosis, philosophy, and the order of knowledge. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
27.
Nnaemeka, O. (2005). Bringing African women into the classroom: Rethinking pedagogy and epistemology. In O. Oyewumi (Ed.), African gender studies. A reader (pp. 51-65). New York: Palgrave.
28.
Ngugi, W. T. (1986). Decolonizing the mind: The politics of language in African literature. London: James Currey/Heinemann.
29.
Nzegwu, N. (2003). O Africa: Gender imperialism in Africa. In O. Oyewumi (Ed.), African women and feminism: Reflecting on the politics of sisterhood (pp. 99-158). Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
30.
Olukoshi, A., & Nyamnjoh, F. (2005). Rethinking African development (Editorial). CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos. 3-4, pp. 1-4.
31.
Oyewumi, O. (1997). The invention of women: Making an African sense of Western gender discourses. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
32.
Oyewumi, O. (2003). African women and feminism: Reflecting on the politics of sisterhood. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
33.
Parker, R., & Aggleton, P. (2003). HIV/AIDS related stigma and discrimination. A conceptual framework and implications for action. Social Science and Medicine, 57, 13-24.
34.
Zeleza, P. (2003). Rethinking Africa’s globalization volume: The intellectual challenges. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
