Essay 5- Danielle Tibbetts- Transnational Flows of People and HIV

     Transnational support and interconnections between various communities have produced an exponential amount of benefits such has ICT's (Information and Communication Technologies), and the support of various interrelated groups around the world in sustaining developing areas needs and issues through their process of becoming developed. As more and more individuals in all areas around the world are given the chance to travel outside of their once constricting borders for various financial and betterment opportunities, comes the intermingling of various individuals at different levels (transnational levels) of their social and private life. When discussing the effects of transnational migration and global cities being built and run on the "backs" of those less fortunate immigrants (many times illegally), this influx of various individuals and their ability to pass through to urban, global areas and then back to their local areas, which has caused different levels of contact between communities, has also fed, especially in the region of South Africa, into the increased spread of various diseases and especially HIV. The once restricting laws of Apartheid have in the last twenty years been extinguished, and from the new found freedoms of developing democracy, come individual choices associated with the ability to have a choice. As Sreberny-Mohammadi states, "this radically new environment (for South Africans and immigrants entering in the area) in which it is not clear what the appropriate resources, skills, and policies are for collective survival in this (new) truly globalized 'risk' environment" (1996, p.19). People in this area are able to travel, meet, and mix with people they were not able to before and because of ignorance, the inability to practice safety precautions, and individual's choices (having more than one sexual partner (sometimes in different areas at the same time, and not practicing safety in regards to this) the spread of HIV in this newly transnational area has increased exceedingly.

    Many times the arrival of immigrants (legally and illegally), poor working and living conditions, and the financial strain of traveling, living etc. supply the conditions for the spread of the devastating disease. In the case of male immigrants traveling back and forth from their homes, usually rural areas, to South Africa many either contract the infectious virus during their stay in the city (through prostitutes, multiple sex partners, condom-nonuse, living in more than four areas), or bringing infection to the sexual partners they come into contact with when conducting themselves in the cities. Their "preterrain" as Clifford defines, "all the places they have to go through and be in relation with just to get to their village, or to their place of work" is a dangerous "field" (1992, p.100) for them, but many have to do it to survive, and get caught up in the human 'traps' along the way to make their living. The sad truth for these immigrants is the more traveling and migrating to various areas in South Africa heighten the chance of them contracting HIV and other disease by three times (Cohen, 2006, p.564). Cohen states, "high levels of male labor migration, coupled with a low frequency of long-distance migrants returning home and low levels of personal HIV risk perception, indicate that the potential for spread of HIV in this setting is explosive" (2006, p. 564).

      For women immigrants in this area they have been exceedingly the victims and carriers of HIV also. As Cohen then states,  "women having multiple partners, being under 35 years of age and having contracted other STD's increased their risk of HIV" (2006, p.564). But the sad truth is that many of these newly-able traveling female immigrants do not have a choice or are driven to a certain lifestyle because of financial and social strains. In the case of an illegal Zimbabwean woman, "Louise", her parents were very poor and farmed for a living. A worldly, "globalized" gentlemen approached them about taking their daughter to South Africa to work as a waitress for a year, and then return with the money she earned, to help them. Her parents ended up consenting to the girl's travel, and Louise ended up being placed in a brothel where she was forced to have unprotected sex with clients, and she received no money for it (Solomon, 2000, p.4).

    This is just one example of the transnational plight of HIV which has been fueled from the availability of global flows of humans. The global flows of (especially) immigrants may better developing areas because of their hard work, and inexpensive laboring cost, but it also allows more and more contact between various people on all levels of "intimate" communication. When the innocent and sometimes ignorant of the global ways, are in need of finances they can be taken advantage of and/or conduct themselves in ways that are not appropriate in the new millennium when STD's, especially HIV, are extensive.

Cites

1) Clifford, James (1992). ?Traveling Cultures.? In Cultural Studies, edited by L. Grossberg, C. Nelson and P. Treichler. New York and London: Routledge. Pp. 96-112. 2) Cohen, Robin (2006). Introduction: From Fear to Solidarity. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. Vol. 32, No. 4, May 2006, pp. 561-567. 3) Solomon, Hussein (2000). ?Contemplating the Impact of Illegal Immigration on the Republic of South Africa. In the Unit for African Studies Working Paper. Centre fo International Political Studies, University of Pretoria. 2000. 4) Sreberny-Mohammadi, Annabelle (1996). Globalization, communication and transnational civil society: Introduction. In S. Braman and A. Sreberny-Mohammadi (Eds.), Globalization, communication and transnational civil society, pp. 1-19. Cresskill, N.J.: Hampton Press.

Posted at 11:33AM Jun 22, 2007 by TIBBETTS, DANIELLE in General  |  Comments[3]