Songs of the South African AIDS Crisis

Gavin Robert Walker (Minjiang University)

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Hardback

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English

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
04 September 2025

Music; Sociology & anthropology; Sociology: sexual relations; Personal & public health

Using the concept of musical effervescence, a collective state of synchronized and focused intersubjectivity through music, Gavin Robert Walker reveals how and why songs have become such a ubiquitous and formidable force within the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

Drawn from a rich and powerful cultural history, music has been used to inspire HIV/AIDS activism and advocacy, facilitate local psychosocial healing, communicate life-saving health information, motivate communities towards healthy behaviors, and promote acceptance of individuals living with HIV. In this book, Walker introduces musical effervescence, a collective state of synchronized and focused intersubjectivity through music, to reveal how and why songs have become such a ubiquitous and formidable force within the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. He situates music at the core of human experience, unpacking how collective singing embodies a shared sense of humanity. This compelling analysis engages deeply with interpersonal musical encounters, asking: what makes these experiences both deeply personal and fundamentally social?, how can music be relevant to such a diverse range of outcomes?, and what can musical effervescence contribute to our understanding of the arts and social, emotional, or physical wellness? Challenging conventional assumptions about the universality of music, Walker explores the relational bonds it cultivates through movement, perception, experience, and perspective to reveal music’s role in shaping the South African AIDS crisis.

By: Gavin Robert Walker (Minjiang University)
Imprint: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781666928525
ISBN 10: 1666928526
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 04 September 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Gavin Robert Walker is an Ethnomusicologist and Associate Professor at Minjiang University, China.

Reviews for Songs of the South African AIDS Crisis

Songs of the South African AIDS Crisis is a powerful demonstration of the increasing need for social science in understanding global medical emergencies. Walker develops fresh modes of enquiry in medical ethnomusicology by bringing nuanced ethnographic accounts of creative performance into discussion with classic theoretical texts. The result is a highly original take on music and illness, which will undoubtedly challenge students, academics, and the wider public to reconsider the ways we think about songs, suffering, and surviving one of the most devastating pandemics in recent history. -- Fraser G. McNeill, University of Pretoria The functionality of music, and other expressive forms in public health contexts in Africa, continues to call for diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to illuminate subtle meanings and dimensions of human experience. Gavin Robert Walker does just that in this work by engaging multiple voices and moments in the history of the HIV/AIDS crisis in South Africa. He provides a uniquely discursive framework that adds an important layer to existing body of scholarship about music and HIV/AIDS, relevant even for understanding the broader issues of health, culture, and society. -- Austin C. Okigbo, University of Colorado at Boulder