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Searching for Meaning in Everyday Life: Gay Men Negotiating Selves in the HIV Spectrum
Author(s) -
Bloom Frederick R.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
ethos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.783
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1548-1352
pISSN - 0091-2131
DOI - 10.1525/eth.1997.25.4.454
Subject(s) - liminality , communitas , narrative , everyday life , meaning (existential) , ethnography , gender studies , psychology , negotiation , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , qualitative research , sociology , social psychology , gerontology , medicine , psychotherapist , art , anthropology , social science , literature , family medicine , political science , law
Based on a prospective ethnographic study of gay men living with HIV infection, perceived quality of life is examined via the integration of life events into life‐story narratives. Most prominent among life events for these men were loss of friends due to AIDS and deterioration of their own health as a result of HIV‐related illnesses. The experiences of four men among 20 interviewed are singled out to demonstrate the range of narrative strategies employed to deal with the social course of illness. The surprising appeal to this group of men of u twelve‐step" groups is examined in terms of liminality and communitas.