1 Who Cares? Family and Lineage Coherence and Caring Capacity during Rural Malawi’s HIV/AIDS Crisis * Deborah Fahy Bryceson (2011) In Family, Ties and Care. Edited by Bertram, H. & N. Ehlert. Berlin: Barbara Budrich Publisher. pp. 503-520. English version. 1. Introduction In the immediate post-independence period, African leaders conceptions of the nation-state and its moral foundations were heavily embedded in traditional concepts of collective welfare and the cooperative nature of African rural societies, exemplified by Nyerere’s (1967) ujamaa. President Banda of Malawi was more specific. He saw lineage ties as essential to collective welfare. Banda was a traditionalist who stressed the ‘Chewa motherland’ and its system of marriage, rituals, the role of tribal leaders and medicine men and above all the concept of the ‘responsible relative’ involving female mbumba and ultimately the nkhoswe (extended family uncle) who was designated as the main carer (Lwanda 1993). When you say they are my mbumba (female members on your mother’s side in a Chewa matrilineal society) you are admitting a responsibility in law’…And being nkhoswe to them you, as a male and no matter how young you are, are a Responsible Relative’ (Young and Banda 1946, Our African Way of Life quoted in Lwanda 1993: 20-21). Western demographers (Lesthaeghe 1989, McNicholl/Cain 1990) have endorsed the African concept of collective welfare stressing the role of lineages in African rural societies. Their model of African family structure assumes that conjugal relations are thin compared with thick, enduring lineage ties, perceived to be responsive to Africa’s demographic regimes of high mortality and fertility. In the face of high levels of morbidity and mortality, the more extensive nature of lineages, beyond the conjugal couple’s immediate family grouping, is believed to afford individuals better welfare prospects. * I am grateful to CARE International, the Regional Network on HIV/AIDS, Rural Livelihoods and Food Security (RENEWAL) and IFPRI, who sponsored the study on which this chapter is based. Special thanks go to John Kadzandira of the University of Malawi at Zomba and Michael Drinkwater, Jodie Fonseca and the CARE Malawi staff for their guidance and involvement throughout the study. 1 The aims of the research were to explore the livelihood strategies and social organizational initiatives that have evolved within rural households and communities to contend with the threat and hardship of HIV/AIDS in the aftermath of a national famine. The field work took place from December 2003 to March of 2004 and included 2 The lineage rather than the conjugal couple per se has generally been held responsible for welfare of children. Demographers (Caldwell/Caldwell 1987, Oppong 1971, Therborn 2006) have drawn attention to the high premium placed on fertility in African societies, which is seen as a way of compensating for high mortality rates as well as reflecting land abundance and lack of inhibition regarding family size vis-à-vis any constrictions on land inheritance. While acknowledging the longevity of unilineality in rural Africa, O’Laughlin (1995) criticizes the over-simplification of western demographers’ generalized model of African family structure, which abstracts from political economies at national and regional levels and overlooks the importance of conjugal relations for understanding household welfare differentiation. This chapter examines rural Malawians’ coping strategies in the face of the risks and rigours of famine and HIV/AIDS. More specifically I pose the question of how conjugal relations and lineage ties have weathered the HIV/AIDS pandemic. And what welfare outcomes have ensued for those stricken and bereaved? Undoubtedly, the spread of HIV/AIDS is influenced by and influences courting practices, marriage strategies, extended family ties, childcare and orphanhood, propelling change at the very heart of social identity and economic welfare determination of the family. Focusing on human agency in the HIV/AIDS disease cycle, the following analysis is based on a study commissioned by CARE Malawi 1 at a time when the HIV prevalence of the country was estimated at roughly 12.4 percent in rural areas. 2 The analysis that follows examines the nature of conjugal and lineage ties with respect to the three main stages of the HIV/AIDS disease cycle: 1) infection and transmission; 2) debility and death; and 3) the aftermath of death encompassing widows, orphans and household reconstitution. 1 The aims of the research were to explore the livelihood strategies and social organizational initiatives that have evolved within rural households and communities to contend with the threat and hardship of HIV/AIDS in the aftermath of a national famine. The field work took place from December 2003 to March of 2004 and included focus group discussions, key informant interviews, bereaved household interviews and interviews with orphans and their foster carers, as well as a randomly sampled household survey of 141 households. Two patrilineal villages (Dzama, Vizimba) and one matrilineal village (Chimponda) in Lilongwe rural district, Central Region were sampled. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were deployed to probe the nature of social support networks in rural communities. 2 HIV prevalence was 14.4 percent nationally and 23 percent in urban areas (Malawi, NAC 2003).