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Jail‐house Rock: Cuba, AIDS, and the Incorporation of Dissent in Bengt Norborg's Socialism or Death
Author(s) -
PROUT RYAN
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
bulletin of latin american research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1470-9856
pISSN - 0261-3050
DOI - 10.1111/j.1470-9856.1999.tb00143.x
Subject(s) - dissent , socialism , context (archaeology) , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , queer , political science , sociology , gender studies , law , medicine , history , family medicine , politics , archaeology , communism
— The demerits and merits of Cuba's quarantine facilities for AIDS patients and seropositives have been widely debated. This article expands the debate by referring to the phenomenon of HIV self‐injection in Cuba, as documented in the 1995 film, Socialism or Death. There is an assessment of the economic, medical, and educational context which informed the events depicted by the film. HIV self‐injection is discussed alongside reference to the development in Cuba of a counter‐cultural youth movement based around a common interest in rock music. The testimony of self‐injected patients and their families, and the reactions of Cuban medical officials are summarised. Comparisons are made between Cuban policy and radical queer theory.