Masculinity and Intimate Relationships in Urban Uganda
In the spring of 2009, Robert returned to Bwaise for three months of additional fieldwork. Robert was able to track down all of his key informants from his dissertation research, most of whom still lived in the Bwaise area. This fieldwork allowed Robert to see how life in the Bwaise community had changed from 2004 and how the lives of his friends and informants had progressed.
As part of this fieldwork, Robert conducted in-depth research with nineteen cohabiting couples. Many of these couples included people he got to know in 2004, which provided an unique longitudinal perspective on their lives. Several of these couples were in polygamous relationships with the husband having multiple wives, and one woman had multiple husbands. In addition, seven of the relationships were "serodiscordant" where one partner was HIV-positive and the other HIV-negative.
This couples research provides an extremely rich perspective on gender and intimate relationships in the Bwaise community. The research is also important because the most recent trends in the AIDS epidemic suggest that the majority of new HIV infections are happening to people in long-term relationships. So understanding how gender power dynamics within couples affect risk of HIV infection is crucial to the next generation of AIDS prevention efforts in Uganda and elsewhere on the African continent.