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Volume 35, Numbers 1 and 2, March and September - Special
Issue on
Women, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Sponsored by UNESCO, New Delhi. |
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HIV/AIDS and
Indian Tribes: Implications of Community norms of sexual
behavior
S.M. Patnaik and Nilika Mehrotra
Tribes in India are one of the most marginalized and vulnerable
groups in terms of their susceptibility to threats of HIV/AIDS.
Very few studies however, have explored this dimension.
Examining the cultural practices of sexual behavior of tribes of
Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttaranchal through ethnographic
mapping, this paper argues that such understanding has been
contetxualized within the larger domain of social, political,
economic and gender inequalities. The paper documents and
presents the sexual practices. The study examines the beliefs
and practices by linking them to growing challenges, which the
tribes of India are facing due to industrialization,
urbanization and globalization rendering them struggling for
their survival and falling prey to threats to diseases like AIDS
which thrive on deepening inequalities.
Key Words: Tribes, Cultural beliefs, Sexual practices,
Marriage rules, Dormitories, Migration. |
