Navigating Disability, HIV, Relationships and Abuse for Christian Women in Nigeria: A Focused Study on Port Harcourt

Fubara-Manuel builds on long-term ethnographic research to bring together the isolated cases of disability, HIV, gender-based violence and Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa. In so doing, she critically examines the perpetuation of rape culture and the role of faith communities and support groups in shaping women’s responses. Navigating Disability, HIV, Relationships and Abuse for Christian Women in Nigeria contains poignant stories of formidable women who, because of their gender and disabilities, were sexually assaulted and infected with HIV by people known to and loved by them. Focusing on the Christian women of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, the book brings together the often under-represented voices of women with disabilities and HIV in an under-researched area of Nigeria. Fubara-Manuel builds on long-term ethnographic research to bring together the isolated cases of disability, HIV, gender-based violence and Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa. In so doing, she critically examines the perpetuation of rape culture and the role of faith communities and support groups in shaping women’s responses. The author’s work moves beyond victimhood frameworks to document the agency of women living with both disability and HIV, and their resilience and faith-based solidarities as resources for survival, resistance, and liberation from abuse. The book advocates a conversation between men and women for the dismantling of patriarchal structures that promote and legitimise the rape culture perpetrated against women by men. By integrating lived theology, gender analysis, and disability studies, this book advances existing literature through relational and narrative-driven accounts that re-centre marginalised voices and rethink the role of Christian faith in contexts of sexual violence.