Title | Beyond faith-based organizations: using comparative institutional ethnography to understand religious responses to HIV and AIDS in Brazil. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2011 |
Authors | Muñoz-Laboy, Miguel A., Laura Murray, Natalie Wittlin, Jonathan Garcia, Veriano Terto, and Richard G. Parker |
Journal | American journal of public health |
Volume | 101 |
Issue | 6 |
Pagination | 972-8 |
Date Published | 2011 Jun |
ISSN | 1541-0048 |
Keywords | Anthropology, Cultural, Brazil, Catholicism, Health Services Accessibility, HIV Infections, Humans, Organizations, Nonprofit, Protestantism, Qualitative Research, Religion, Stereotyping |
Abstract | Religious institutions, which contribute to understanding of and mobilization in response to illness, play a major role in structuring social, political, and cultural responses to HIV and AIDS. We used institutional ethnography to explore how religious traditions--Catholic, Evangelical, and Afro-Brazilian--in Brazil have influenced HIV prevention, treatment, and care at the local and national levels over time. We present a typology of Brazil's division of labor and uncover overlapping foci grounded in religious ideology and tradition: care of people living with HIV among Catholics and Afro-Brazilians, abstinence education among Catholics and Evangelicals, prevention within marginalized communities among Evangelicals and Afro-Brazilians, and access to treatment among all traditions. We conclude that institutional ethnography, which allows for multilevel and interlevel analysis, is a useful methodology. |
DOI | 10.2105/AJPH.2010.300081 |
Alternate Journal | Am J Public Health |