Representations of HIV/AIDS in Contemporary Hispano-American and Caribbean Culture

Exploring the mechanisms and strategies used in different cultures across Hispano-America and the Caribbean to narrativise, represent and understand HIV/AIDS as a social and human phenomenon, Representations of HIV/AIDS in Contemporary Hispano-American and Caribbean Culture examines a wide range of cultural, artistic and media texts, as well as issues of human phenomenology. It seeks to understand the ways in which HIV positive individuals make sense of their own lives, and how the rest of society perceives them.

Drawing on a variety of cultural texts from cinema, television, photography and literature, the author considers the manner in which contemporary cultural forms have shaped a body of public opinion in response to the social and cultural impact of HIV/AIDS, re-interpreting the condition in light of advances in treatment. With attention to both the temporality and spatiality of production, this book examines whether heterosexual and homosexual, and masculine and feminine bodies are narrativised in the same manner. It considers whether representations foster discrimination of any kind.

The book also questions whether representations across Latin America are homogenous or varied according to national, social or cultural context, and explores the commonalities between the representations of HIV/AIDS in Hispano-America and the Caribbean and other global narratives.

A detailed study of the various representations of HIV/AIDS and the construction of public opinion, this book will appeal to scholars of cultural, media and film studies, the sociology of health, the body and illness, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies.