Decolonising research and folk media: a methodology for Exploring narratives of HIV and AIDS in rural Malawi

ABSTRACT

Background

In Malawi, well-meaning HIV and AIDS interventions imagined in the “Global North” continue to ignore how local people construct the world. This paper explores how folk media can be used to enable research on HIV and AIDS to be positioned within localised cultural paradigms.

Methods

Drawing on Chewa epistemology, I used folk media methods supported by participant observation. The research was conducted in three phases over 15 days in two rural communities and captured the workshop processes, participants’ process reviews, verbal journals and creative outputs through pictures, audio and video recordings, field notes and reflections. Data was analysed thematically.

Finding

Folk media can be used to structure research, to facilitate a conducive environment for research practice, as data and as a method for the generation of data/knowledge.

Conclusions

Folk media can be a strong, replicable, culturally grounded, decolonizing research methodology that promotes collaboration and the deconstruction of power relations.

KEYWORDS:

• Folk media
• decolonising research methodologies
• HIV and AIDS
• arts-based
• malawi

Introduction

HIV and AIDS remains a significant health, social and economic problem in Malawi. Despite widespread availability of free HIV related services, high levels of awareness, there are still “unacceptable high numbers of new infections and AIDS related deaths” (Malawi, 2020)

Malawi’s response to HIV and AIDS, as with other health issues, was shaped by colonialism through which Western understandings, conceptualizations of disease and practices of medicine were imposed on indigenous populations (Dionne, 2017; Kagaayi & Serwadda, 2016; Lwanda, 2002). Well-meaning interventions to prevent or better manage HIV and AIDS were imagined and designed in the Global North but often fail because they ignore the realities of the contexts in which they are applied and the ways that local people construct the world (Abdulla, 2020; Chinyowa, 2009; Dionne, 2017; Kovach, 2021). What is needed are decolonized research methods and intervention designs relevant to and embedded in Malawian contexts.

This paper describes my use of folk media as a decolonizing research methodology designed to enable research on HIV and AIDS to be positioned within the cultural paradigms of the communities of research. Folk media are the ways in which a group of people or a community express themselves, communicate their ideas, values, and beliefs (van der Stichele, 2000). Ansu-Kyeremeh (1998, p. 3) describes them as,

any form of endogenous communication system which, by virtue of its origin from and integration into a specific culture, serves as a channel for messages in a way and manner that requires the utilization of the values, symbols, institutions, and ethos of the host culture through its unique qualities and attributes.

In developing the approach, I drew on writers who propose decolonizing research using “indigenous research methodologies (IRM)” (Chilisa, 2019; Smith, 2021). I felt that applying folk media could be decolonizing because the methods are based on the cultural practices of the communities themselves.

Before going on to describe my use of folk media and other research methods, I briefly outline the need for indigenous research methodologies and previous approaches to using folk media in research.

The need for indigenous research methodologies

In outlining an approach to decolonizing methodologies Linda Tuhiwai Smith, writes that the problems of exclusion, representation, imposition, and domination in research lie with the concept of research itself and how it was conducted on indigenous peoples in the colonial past (2021). In summary, researchers came into indigenous territories and colonized lands as missionaries, ethnographers, explorers, and photographers and left with pictures, artifacts and even people that were then exhibited in huge European fairs as primitive and curious objects for the shock and delight of audiences and congregations in the name of research (Lwanda, 2002; Malsbary, 2008). Through these activities, not only did researchers steal cultural artifacts, but through their claims to “know” the indigenous other, dismissed, distorted, and even erased established systems of order and knowledge that existed among the indigenous peoples (Malsbary, 2008; Smith, 2021).

Practices of research that invalidate indigenous forms of cultural knowledge and deny indigenous people their right to self-determination still dominate in the current post-colonial world. Many scholars have joined Smith in calling for the decolonization of research processes (Chilisa, 2019; de Sousa Santos, 2016; Kovach, 2021). One approach to decolonisation suggests the development of indigenous research methodologies (Chilisa, 2019; Smith, 2021). In simple terms, these are methodologies based on “indigenous” realities engaged with and understood through local “indigenous” frames of reference (Chilisa, 2019).

Whilst indigenous methodologies are attractive, the concept has been criticized, with suggestions that they create a false binary between indigenous and other research methodologies that overemphasizes differences (Gone, 2019), in addition, determining what counts as “indigenous” is impossible because most indigenous cultures have interacted with Western cultures, drawn upon and incorporated them (Abdulla, 2016; Chinyowa, 2005; Gone, 2019; Kamlongera, 1986; Kerr, 1981, 1988). In response, scholars like Gone (2019) and Chilisa (2019) have suggested indigenous research might benefit from a mixed form of methodologies, which I have attempted by integrating participant observation and folk media.

In applying folk media methods, I attempt to decolonize research as a process. I draw heavily on the concept of “indigenous research methodologies” but acknowledge the difficulty in defining indigeneity in the context of post colonialism and the globalized exchange of cultural forms and ideas. I go on to describe previous uses of folk media in research.

Folk media and research

In most African contexts, folk media include beating drums, dramatic enactments, songs, dances, village criers, folk tales, proverbs, riddles, and ceremonies such as initiations, funerals, and weddings (Abdulla, 2016; Chinyowa, 2005). They include those forms of expression that the specific communities have appropriated or integrated into their cultural frameworks/paradigms and identify as their own. A critical point in their use is the acknowledgement of the community’s right to name themselves and what they consider their own. Although some folk media forms intersect with arts, to count as folk media, the form, its nuance, and ethic must be owned by the community one is working in. If a form belonging to a particular group of people, say a Chimtali song and dance from the Chewa people, is taken out of its context to be used in another space, say among the Yao people, it shifts into an art form and no longer serves the same purpose as in its host culture (Abdulla, 2016). As some scholars have argued, the methods and art forms used for engagement in arts based approaches to research and intervention are often imposed on workshop participants and communities which makes it difficult to meaningfully engage in a decolonial and transformative manner (Abdulla, 2016; Beck, 2006; Chinyowa, 2009).

According to C. Kamlongera et al. (1992), Malawian people have expressed themselves through folk media since the pre-colonial period. The performance-based nature of Malawian cultures is manifest in all aspects of life including religion, spirituality, sociality as well as politics (Chirwa, 2001; Kamlongera et al., 1992; Kerr, 1987; Lwanda, 2002, 2003; Sembereka, 1996). As Kerr (1987) exemplifies, Gule wa Mkulu, a dominant masked cultural performance amongst the Chewa people, was one of the dances used in retaliating against colonialism and the exercise of its oppressive powers.

Approach and methodology

The folk media research approach presented in this paper is part of a larger PhD study that set out to explore how rural communities understand and make sense of HIV and AIDS. In developing the approach, I drew on Chewa epistemology in which the concept of truth is experiential and valued knowledge tends to be empirical. According to Kaphagawani, a Malawian scholar of Chewa epistemology and Malawian cultures, “knowledge presupposes truth” (1998:240). The Chewa conception of truth is manifest in Chichewa, the national language of Malawi. In the Chichewa language, the immediate word that bears an equivalence to truth is zoona, literally translated as “the seen”, derived from the verb kuona (to see), with kuonedwa (to have been seen) as its passive (Kaphagawani & Malherbe, 1998). This meant that the knowledge of how folk media can support health research in a decolonizing way had to come from practicing and experiencing the process.

The Chichewa proverb “Ali dele nkulinga utayenda naye” (To say they are like this, presupposes you have walked with them) suggests that to know another requires journeying/experiencing with them. This led to the integration of participant observation, which I found compatible with the local epistemologies. Like the proverb, participant observation enables researchers to learn about a people or phenomena in their setting by actively participating in the activities as they observe them (Musante & DeWalt, 2010). In doing this, I drew not only on decolonizing cultural methodological frameworks but also on a conventional social science research method. I outline the research process below.

Selecting communities and community entry

The research was conducted with two rural communities in Malawi. One in Dedza district in the Central Region and the other, in Thyolo district in the Southern region. Chichewa is spoken in both communities (which I also speak fluently) and both were accessible during the rainy season. I selected the regions myself but selecting communities and participants within those communities was done in consultation with various stakeholders. I chose districts through consultation with a program officer of a local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) which suggested Health Centres in the Regions which might facilitate my access to communities. With Health Centres, Health Surveillance Assistant staff introduced me to Group Village Heads of the Traditional Authorities in the districts. These are leaders of a group of villages working with various village heads (also known as Chiefs) who would be gatekeepers into local communities and who facilitate entry into villages and select participants. The level of selection and which stakeholder was involved in supporting my entry is summarised in Table 1.

Table 1. Participant selection process.

Step	Level of selection	Stakeholder
1	Selecting Regions	Myself
2	Selecting District and Health Centres	Program officer of ArtGlo (local NGO working with Health Centres across the country) and Myself
3	Selecting Traditional Authority (T/A) and Group Village Head (GVH)	Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs) at the Health Centres
4	Selecting Participating Villages and Participants	Group Village Heads and their Village Heads

Drawing on the Malawian proverb “ukapita kwa eni, chakwanu leka” (if you go to another’s home, leave behind what is from yours, similar to “when in Rome do as the Romans do). I introduced my study to the Group Village Heads and requested that they guide me throughout the research process. During the initial meetings with them, I introduced myself (name, tribe, home village, district, my family, where I lived and what I was doing), then introduced the study, and negotiated answers to such questions as, how to navigate cultural ground rules, protocols and norms, permission seeking protocols, whether to conduct the study at Group Village Head level or Village Head level, where to base the study, how to select the participants and distribution of which participants come from which villages, whether or not to live with the community, how best to do this, and who else needed to be included in the study to achieve the best results and how to engage them.

Outline of phases of research and methods

Working with a male research assistant to allow a gender balance for facilitation, we conducted the research over 15 days in three phases in each community, living with a family chosen to host us by Group Village Heads and Village Heads (we contributed money for food, housing, and other necessities). By this time participants from all the villages had been selected by the Group Village Heads and their Village Heads. Both Male and female, aged 18 to 55 years.

Phase 1: sensitization to the community environment and identification of folk media forms

During the first three days, we worked towards integrating ourselves into the community’s daily lives, helping with routines around the home, visiting neighbours and chatting with other members of the community, building relationships, and generally getting to know the community, their ways, and their folk media forms, which we both observed and asked about in informal interviews. Our stay also allowed the communities to get to know us. At the end of the day, my assistant, Misheck and I met to share what we had learnt during the day, and I wrote detailed notes and sometimes audio recorded our discussion.

Having had a basic understanding of some of the community’s specific folk media forms in each setting, I had further consultation with the Group Village Head in each community to discuss how I might approach the participants in phase 2 to explore what forms might be useful in exploring what knowledge. This conversation gave me a starting point. The rest of the workshop sessions were developed together with the participants.

Phase 2: folk media workshops and creating a performance for the wider community

We worked with 20 participants in each community over 10 days and held an additional session with the Group Village Head and Village Heads. The participants chose the folk media forms for engagement and together we negotiated how we would use them, what we would do in each session and what the areas for exploration would be. Table 2 summarises the objectives and method on each day.

Table 2. Summary of processes in phase 2 workshops.

Days	Objectives	Folk Media
1	Familiarization with the participants, building rapport and establishing workshop norms	Nyimbo/Magule (Songs and dances), Ndagi/ntchezero (riddles), Nthano (folk tales)
2 and 3	Getting to know the community from the participants’ perspective’	Mlozo (Map-ping), Chipako (game), Kuyerekezera (miming), Sewero (dramatic enactments), Nyimbo ndi magule (Songs and Dances), Reflections
4, 5 and 6	Exploring how the participants and their communities understand and make sense of HIV and AIDS Summarising “mitu ikulu ikulu” (major themes)	Nyimbo (Songs) Magule (dances), masewero (dramatic enactments), Bwalo la mfumu (arena/forum of chiefs) Ndakatulo (Poem), Reflections
7,8 and 9	Creating a community-wide performance	Group discussions and presentations, Nthano, sewero, magule, Nyimbo Reflections

I captured the workshop processes and creative outputs through pictures, audio and video recordings, field notes and reflections. To capture the participants’ individual private reflections during the workshop process, they kept verbal journals which we called “kaundula” (register/record). Drawing on folktales we agreed to maintain privacy and anonymity in the kaundula by using pseudonyms (animal names in Dedza and names of edible plants in Thyolo). The participants made verbal journal entries at the end of every other day’s sessions.

Having generated data on the participants perspectives on HIV and AIDS and health in general, we recapped what had emerged in a participatory analysis process. Workshop participants divided into two groups and were asked to: recap and summarise what we had explored in the workshop sessions; identify what was important to them and their communities from the explorations; prioritize the key ideas, issues and insights that were most important to them; make meaning from what they had identified as key issues and tell stories from it. From this process, the participants identified what they called “mitu ikulu ikulu” (big heads/headlines) which is an equivalent to major themes or topics from which they developed stories that happen in their communities in relation to those themes. These stories were used to create performances for the wider community for Phase 3 of the research.

Phase 3: the performance for the wider community

The community wide performances created in phase 2 were performed by the workshop participants to an audience of wider-community members at the end of our stay in the community. Other community members who came as audience members also performed traditional dances. The workshop participants, as actors, engaged the audience in dialogical performance that facilitated expression of their opinions, views and perspectives on the issues raised. Thus, the performance itself generated data and with permission, I video recorded the performance events. These were attended by one Group Village Head, 11 Village Heads and approximately 800 community members in Dedza and 1 Group Village Head, 4 Village Heads and approximately 110 community members in Thyolo.

Data from all sources were qualitative and were analysed in two ways. Firstly, using participatory analysis with the participants during phase 2 of the research as described. Secondly, through my own further thematic analysis developed from Braun and Clarke’s approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This involved integrating the themes the participants constructed into my own ideas to construct an overall narrative, in this case, about how folk media can be used as a decolonizing research methodology. I discussed and agreed my draft narratives/findings with the Group Village Heads in both Dedza and Thyolo through 11 international phone calls. This was an on-going process.

Findings

I found the folk media approach operated as a structuring element of research; a method to facilitate a conducive environment for research practice; as data; and as a method for the generation of shared knowledge. They also generated rich, contemporary, accounts of how participants and their communities make sense of HIV and AIDS. Detailed community experiences and narratives have been reported in chapters four and five of my PhD thesis (Abdulla, 2021) and will also be reported elsewhere.

Folk media as a structuring element of research

Working with folk media as a methodological framework allowed for the entire research process to be grounded within the cultural paradigms of the communities of research. It enabled the structuring of the research, the research design and the research methods within the Chewa epistemological framework which supports that knowledge is generated through practicing and experiencing (Kaphagawani & Malherbe, 1998). The importance of experiencing in the Chewa conception of knowledge is visible through other intangible cultural heritages such as Miyambi (proverbs). Miyambi communicate messages that have meanings indicative of the Chewa people’s conception of knowledge (Banda & Banda, 2016; Kaphagawani & Malherbe, 1998). This not only constructed the methods of inquiry, (folk songs and dances, dramatic enactments, games) but also framed my understanding of the findings through working with proverbs as theoretical concepts.

Working with folk media meant that Misheck and I were not the only methodological experts. Thus, had to let go of control over the research process and share it with the community authorities and participants thereby necessitating collaboration, co-design as well as co-ownership, as will be evidenced in the sections that follow.

The pamtondo effect: facilitating a conducive environment for research practice

In qualitative research, building rapport has been established as an important aspect of data collection so much that in simple terms, the quality of rapport determines the quality of data (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011; Tickle, 2017). Therefore, drawing on cultural frameworks that facilitate conducive environments for expression was particularly important to exploring topics (HIV and AIDS) that touch people at very deep and personal levels.

Therefore, we drew on the Malawian concept of Pamtondo, which can be described as a cultural space of work and play where women pound grain as they sing songs, gossip, laugh, discuss current affairs, reflect on life, and voice their joys and grievances (Lwanda, 2003). It was/is a culturally acceptable frame that provides women (in communities that are predominantly patriarchal) with a safe space to express themselves and to voice things that they otherwise wouldn’t.

The pamtondo space is characterized by trust, safety, freedom/openness and collectiveness intermingled with work and playfulness. Although Pamtondo was and is a space strictly for women, I explored the recreation of the characteristics present in the pamtondo space in the folk media workshops during phase 2 of my research. The recreation of these characteristics within the research space is what I call “the pamtondo effect”. Below are participants’ reflections extracted from individual verbal journals and group process reviews in both communities.

… everyone is taking part and participating. There’s no difference between males and females. Everyone is able to express their views and thoughts. (Participant, group process review, day 3, Dedza)

If we were not using these methods (njira), it could have been difficult because people who speak are few, some just listen and are afraid. But these methods be it singing or masewero (dramatic enactments) are giving joy/pleasure to everyone and removing fear from them so that they take part and participate easily, unlike just talking ….

(Participant, group process review, day 3, Thyolo)

The reflections above, demonstrate that openness, freedom, safety, active participation of everyone, and speaking what was in one’s heart without fear characterised the folk media workshops evidencing the manifestation of the pamtondo effect and its importance to the process.

The SPEAC practice model – reaching for the pamtondo effect

Drawing from participants’ reflections and reviews of the process, my reflexive analysis of field notes, verbal journals and continuous reengagement with the workshop video data from both sites, I noted features of my practice that I believe helped to create the pamtondo effect. I describe these features in a practice model that can be summarized as S.P.E.A.C: (Spend time on Macheza (play/fulness), Participate in all activities in the workshop space, Establish a routine of Macheza, Accept being led, Conduct yourself as a member of the group). I argue that the folk media workshops I conducted in the two communities, summarised subsequently by the SPEAC model, enabled the pamtondo effect to be manifested which in turn facilitated the collaborative, culturally acceptable generation of rich knowledge. I go on to describe how I enacted each element of the SPEAC model below.

Spend enough time on Macheza

Guided by a Malawian proverb Mmera mpoyamba, meaning the harvest is determined by the start, Misheck and I spent considerable time early in the workshopping process on establishing macheza (playfulness) and encouraging the participants to lead some of the sessions and guide us through various forms of macheza used to grow and develop relationships in their communities. We sang, danced, teased each other, played games and riddles. This set up a space where the participants felt free and safe to participate as evidenced in this participant’s reflection during a group process review.

… Some of us are people that do not come together to chat (socialize), but because we came here and started spending time together, it’s as though we have always stayed/been together. We are free and open about everything without thinking or feeling that we haven’t lived with these people before so we should be embarrassed or that we should hide/conceal some things. I see this as something precious. (chinthu cha mtengo wapatali)

(Participant, group process review, day 10, Dedza)

The extract above highlights the importance of spending enough time with participants, getting to know each other, playing together and facilitating familiarity and trust. However, while we managed to create a cohesive, trusting and playful environment by noon on the first day in Dedza, it took us a little later into the afternoon to reach a similar space in Thyolo.

Participate in all activities within the workshop space

Freire (1972), Kamlongera (2005) and Smith (Smith, 2021) argue that, if you want to help others in the process of humanization, you must do so in partnership with them. Misheck and I participated in all activities within the workshop space, whether led by participants, or by ourselves. We participated in the songs and dances that the participants led, the riddles, games, gossip as well as the workshop data generation sessions that participants took a leading role in facilitating even though we did not contribute to the content. This is shown in one of the participants’ reflections below.

… Everyone has been taking part and you have not shown any grumpiness or that you were unhappy with anything, all the way to yesterday when we went to the gathering at the grounds (for phase 3). There, you did the same, everything that was happening there, you were taking part.

(Participant, group process review, day 10, Dedza)

As illustrated in the extract above, our (Misheck and I) participation as participants in the data generation process was highlighted by the participants as an important aspect of the workshops.

Establish a routine of Macheza

Many forms of macheza in Malawian cultures often begin with a formula, a phrase, a line, or something that indicates Bateson’s “this is play” (Bateson, 1972). In nthano (folk tales), the storyteller often begins with padangokhala or its variation (aligns roughly with “Once upon a time … ”). The storyteller then waits for a response that signals consent and participation of the listeners which is “tiri tonse” (we are together). These phrases not only mark the beginning of the storytelling experience as a participatory one, but also sets up the frame of playfulness, almost like a signpost saying, “we are now entering a folk tale frame in which case some frames of reality may be suspended”.

During our research, we started every day of the workshop by reminding everyone that, we are now entering our designated space of macheza and exploration about HIV and AIDS which we have made to be open and safe for engagement. So, in both Dedza and Thyolo, just as with pamtondo, when we came in for the workshops every morning, we would greet each other, gossip about what’s going on in the village, and laugh about nothing till we had all gathered. Then, we would open the workshop with a prayer (as per custom there) and then go on to sing and dance whatever songs and dances we wanted, led by the participants. We did this the first 20–30 minutes, at the start of every day’ sessions, almost like an “opening ritual” that performed a similar function to the padangokhala in the nthano.

Accept to be led

Scholars and practitioners have noted that the attempt to use folk media without careful understanding of the specific contexts and nuances of the forms has often led to imposition and alienation of participants and communities for whom the initiatives are intended (Abdulla, 2016; Chinyowa, 2009; van der Stichele, 2000).

In this study, not only were the participants experts in the specific methods (folk media) of knowledge generation, but they were also the owners and keepers of the experiences which the study sought to explore. Thus, while I determined the broad topic that needed exploration (HIV and AIDS), the participants guided the practice of each activity taken up within the workshops. In both communities, participants led the start of all the workshop sessions with prayer, songs, dances and games, while Misheck and I followed. With careful facilitation, participants also led the adaptation of folk media forms to methods for exploration. For instance, on day 2 after we (participants and researchers) identified chipako as a game, the participants explained and demonstrated the different ways in which the game was played in their community and led its adaptation as a method for exploring important events that had affected the community in the past 5 years.

Asking for guidance, listening to the participants suggestions, and deciding things together helped to reinforce collaboration and co-ownership of the knowledge generation process. As this participant reflects, “malingana ndi zolinga zathu, zinakwaniritsidwa ndi chipakocho” (our objectives were fulfilled through the chipako) (Participant, group process review, day 3, Dedza). The reference to the workshop objectives as “our” points to a shared ownership of the research process.

Conduct yourself as a member of the group

Creating and sustaining “the pamtondo effect” through macheza (play/fulness) required Misheck and I to conduct ourselves as members of the participants’ group even outside of data generation activities. Our behaviour and conduct emerged strongly in participants’ verbal journals and group process reviews as illustrated below:

… Even when we were doing lunch, you were not excluding yourselves to say, “we live like this, and we eat this and that food”. Everything that was happening here, you were also doing the same … which shows that you have followed our way of life here very well. Even our friends out there are admiring how you have lived with us here in our area, especially your conduct. (Participant, group process review, day 10, Dedza)

We were doing everything as though we were all children of the same household, yet we had just met, but it was as though we were children of the same family (Participant, group process review, day 10, Dedza)

The above extracts suggest that considering and conducting ourselves as members of a team was an important aspect of creating a conducive environment for knowledge generation

In conclusion, we have seen that through the pamtondo effect that was recreated through my research practice as described by the SPEAC model, folk media facilitated a conducive environment for research practice.

Folk media as data/knowledge

Folk media forms were very helpful to our learning about how the communities’ understood and positioned HIV and AIDS prior to interaction with the study. During day three of the folk media workshops, we went on to explore understandings of HIV and AIDS. First, we asked the participants to think about all the folk media forms that the community already had related to HIV and AIDS prior to this study. The participants came up with, nyimbo (songs) magule (traditional songs and dances), ndakatulo (poems) and masewero (dramatic enactments). The participants then divided into groups based on the folk media forms they wanted to work with to prepare and present to the larger group.

Each group of participants performed their folk media forms to the rest of the group which made additions and/or clarifications where necessary. Together we reflected on and unpacked the forms in terms of the stories they were telling, who was speaking, who they were speaking to, what they were saying, the mood/atmosphere/emotion and why. These reflections at the end of each set of performances allowed participants to share what was being communicated through the forms, the background stories and events that led to the creation of the forms and other details of the forms that helped me to better understand the experiences of the community that were stored/captured in the folk forms they presented.

Below is an example of how folk songs and dances contained knowledge about people’s understandings and experiences with HIV and AIDS. It is one of the songs that accompanies a women’s dance called chinana, that participants in the folk media workshops and women from the wider community performed in Dedza during phase 3 of the study:

Edzi /AIDS

Edzi edzi edzi/AIDS AIDS AIDS

Wakwanira edzi/AIDS has saturated

Wakwanira edzi dziko lonse/AIDS has saturated the whole country

The song and dance captured in Figure 1 is performed as a call and response with rigorous fast paced steps that follow the rhythm of the drums. The fast-paced movements are contrasted with voices that have a sad tone that sounds almost like a cry. The song acknowledges that HIV and AIDS is within the community and the use of the word “wakwanira” emphasises the extent to which the disease has spread and affected the community suggesting an understanding of HIV and AIDS as an epidemic, consistent with how biomedical experts describe the disease.

Figure 1. Women dancing chinana during phase 3 in Dedza.

Folk media as method of data/knowledge generation

Folk media worked very well for purposes of rich data/knowledge generation. It provided a familiar method of expression to the participants for excavating, revealing, and exploring deep narratives of HIV and AIDS. It also worked well in eliciting both individual and general community understandings and experiences with HIV and AIDS by giving power to the participants to decide what needed to be explored based on their experiences pertaining to HIV and AIDS. This is demonstrated by participant reflections below

Without these methods of play, much of what has come out here, would not have come out in the slightest. If we had/were to just discuss saying, so what happened here? aaah not much would have come out. But this method (njira) surely aaaah it has revealed/excavated (ya vumbulutsa) a lot of things. (Participant, group process review, day 10, Dedza)

There was magule (traditional songs and dances), ndakatulo (poems), masewero (dramas). These methods are very deep (zozama kwambiri). They give opportunity so that everyone can take part and share their thoughts/views. (Participant, group process review, day 9, Thyolo)

Below is an example of how a sewero was a method of data/knowledge generation.

In Thyolo, one of the groups decided to explore their experiences around HIV and AIDS through a sewero. Their sewero focused on their experiences at the local health centre as well as how people receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) are treated. After their presentation, we unpacked and reflected on the sewero together. Below are the first and second comments that kick started the reflections:

This sewero is good, in it we have seen the doctor not being helpful and not caring/minding about the people but doing his own thing because he says the money (spent on fees to educate him) was paid by his parents (not the patients, so they can’t tell him what to do). This is also what happens at the clinic …

(Participant reflections on sewero, day 6, Thyolo)

I would say, the sewero I saw showed very real issues that my relatives or even myself have experienced. It would remind me of what I would have experienced at the clinic

(Participant reflections on sewero, day 6 in Thyolo)

These initial comments not only demonstrate the relevance of the situations and experiences that the participants were performing to their own lives and encounters at the clinic, but also offer guidance as to the questions that need to guide reflections on ma sewero as a method of getting to know peoples’ understandings and experiences. Asking questions such as, what is the sewero talking about (issues raised), what is happening, why, who are the players, what is their relationship and how is each issue raised in the sewero related to the experiences of people in the community, helped to make explicit the connections between the “play” and the lived experiences of the community.

The responses demonstrated that what was improvised and portrayed in the sewero was in fact a representation of an amalgamation of participants’ and their community’s lived experiences. They were improvising their own shared/collective lived realities and performing themselves. The issues raised in the sewero were further reflected in the participants’ verbal journal entries and focused on detailing their individual feelings around their experiences at the health centre.

Discussion

This paper set out to explore how folk media, described by Stichele (2002) as the ways in which a group or community communicates their ideas, values and beliefs, can be used as a decolonizing research methodology designed to enable research on HIV and AIDS to be positioned within the cultural paradigms of the communities of research. The findings demonstrate that working with folk media as a structuring element of research; a method to facilitate a conducive environment for research practice; as data; and as a method for the generation of shared knowledge not only enables generation of deep knowledge but facilitates ownership of the research process by the participants and promotes the deconstruction of power relations in ways that the participants found to be freeing, respectful and meaningful.

Working with the Chewa epistemology and Malawian proverbs around knowledge generation to guide and structure the research design, I ensured that knowledge was produced within the local epistemological contexts of the communities of research, crucial to decolonization of epistemologies (de Sousa Santos, 2016; J. Kerr, 2014). Using Malawian proverbs as theoretical frameworks to make sense of my findings reflects the essence of decolonization which according to Chilisa (2019) is to understand the communities through their own local frames of reference.

Proverbs (Miyambi) have been described as stores of indigenous knowledge that has been gained and accumulated over time (Banda & Banda, 2016; Chakanza, 2000; Kaphagawani & Malherbe, 1998). They express a people’s traditional values and reflect their ways of thinking and seeing the world (Chakanza, 2000). They offer guidance and wisdom that touches on various conditions of life within a community (Chakanza, 2000). Because of this, proverbs (miyambi) provided important frameworks for understanding the ways and experiences of Malawian communities and allowed us to understand the problems, hopes, aspirations and opportunities within their context of manifestation and locate them within a broader system of the people’s way of being.

Working with folk media to facilitate a conducive environment for research practice contributed greatly to the decolonization of research practice. Smith (2021) asserts that decolonizing research must pay attention to cultural ground rules and address them seriously. Although Smith (2021) acknowledges that barriers of distinction, expectations and myths that accompany constructions of difference cannot be erased, researchers can acknowledge them explicitly and work to create spaces for dialogue that recognize the uncomfortableness of power, representation, and reality.

The endogenous nature of the folk media, operating within “the pamtondo effect” space, necessitated healthy collaboration and a balance of power over the data generation process. As Smith (2021) explained, collaboration means that as well as seeking to maximize interest and participation, researchers must let go of their control of research and share it with the “indigenous” peoples they are working with. It also facilitated observance of cultural norms and ground rules which evoked a silent cultural licence to respect, trust and openness allowing rich sharing to occur. As the early encounters with colonialism suggest, disrespect and assault on the Malawian people’s cultural beliefs and practices have often led to hiding of significant crucial parts of their cultural practices and existence (Lwanda, 2002).

Songs, dances and dramatic enactments as data respected the histories and memories of the people- their experiences and perceptions and cultural ways of storing knowledge. According to Nthala (2009), music/songs and dances do not only reflect cultural patterns and structures of a given group, but also provide a space for generating meaning. People within the community use songs and dances to express attitudes and feelings towards certain phenomena that they encounter (Nthala, 2009). Thus, careful observance and review of communities’ songs and dances can enable one to describe, interpret, understand and identify with the cultural group and its social arrangements.

As a method of knowledge/data generation folk media facilitated a space for participants to speak in their own language and through their own embodied pedagogies and cultural paradigms therefore positioning the participants at the centre of the knowledge generation process. Given that folk media are the ways in which a community or group of people communicate their ideas, values and beliefs (van der Stichele, 2000) within their own cultural ethos (Ansu-Kyeremeh, 1998), it represents the community’s/group’s expressive language. According to Coetzee, “languages embody distinctive ways of experiencing the world and so play a crucial role in defining the experiences of a community as their particular experiences” (Ansu-Kyeremeh, 1998, p. 278).

Limitations, challenges and reflections

Firstly, this paper focuses on methodology and participants’ responses, reviews, and experiences with it. Although reference has been made, it is not within the scope of this paper to dive into detailed accounts of the findings for which the methodology was developed.

Secondly, while I conducted ongoing discussions of the study findings and agreed my draft narratives/findings with the GVHs in both communities, the rest of the research participants were not engaged in this equally important aspect of the research process. By excluding the rest of the participants, the power to shape the final narrative/story of the research was only partially shared.

In addition, the openness, safety and freedom of expression provided by this application of folk media means that various narratives are excavated and shared in an embodied and intensive manner, including those that might be unhelpful or harmful to health seeking objectives. For instance, as the participants continually expressed their misgivings about condoms and conspiracies around them, I struggled to remain unaffected by the participants’ stories and explorations. They shared their views and experiences in embodied form with such passion and conviction that I found myself not only empathizing with the participants but convinced by the stories. It was a struggle and took continuous awareness and reflection to manage my own unhelpful thoughts. My experience suggests that if not carefully facilitated, the exploration space could become a space for transference of unhelpful thoughts. This not only necessitates particular skills to facilitate a folk media research methodology, but also requires research processes that are carefully designed to go beyond exploring knowing to further engage participants in examining that knowing.

Conclusion

As discussed in this paper, the imposition of Western understandings, conceptualizations of disease and practices of medicine on indigenous populations in Malawi and other parts of Africa have dominated responses to HIV and AIDS. Many well-meaning interventions to prevent or better manage HIV and AIDS in Africa fail because they ignore the realities of the contexts in which they are applied and the ways that local people construct the world. This paper set out to explore how folk media can contribute to decolonizing HIV and AIDS research by positioning enquiry within the cultural paradigms of the Malawian people.

The paper demonstrates that folk media can be used to structure research within the Malawian context through working with Malawian epistemologies evident in proverbs. The recreation of the pamtondo effect, using the SPEAC model, generated cultural licence to share and explore experiences and perspectives on HIV and AIDS that are often hidden from outsiders. SPEAC enabled a conducive environment for research practice that revealed folk media forms such as, folk tales, dramatic enactments, songs and dances to be powerful methods for data generation.

In sum, the paper demonstrates that folk media can be a strong, replicable, culturally grounded, decolonizing research methodology. It not only enables exploration and generation of deep knowledge but also facilitates collaboration and ownership of the research process by participants and promotes the deconstruction of power relations in ways that participants found freeing, respectful and meaningful.

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I am extremely grateful to the two communities that allowed me into their lives and to explore their worlds with them. I would also like to thank Misheck for his support throughout the research process. Finally, I would like to thank Prof. Sally Wyke for her encouragement and mentorship while writing this paper, Prof. Mia Perry for her supervision during my PhD studies and Dr. Christopher Bunn for his support throughout the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the University of Glasgow’s College of Social Sciences, via a PhD scholarship.