Open Access“I Have an Evil Child at My House”: Stigma and HIV/AIDS Management in a South African Community
Author(s) -
Catherine Campbell,
C. Foulis,
Sbongile Maimane,
Zweni Sibiya
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2003.037499
Subject(s) - stigma (botany) , legislation , psychological intervention , ethnic group , politics , gender studies , sociology , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , criminology , political science , psychology , medicine , psychiatry , law , family medicine
We examined the social roots of stigma by means of a case study of HIV/AIDS management among young people in a South African community (drawing from interviews, focus groups, and fieldworker diaries). We highlight the web of representations that sustain stigma, the economic and political contexts within which these representations are constructed, and the way in which they flourish in the institutional contexts of HIV/AIDS interventions. Stigma serves as an effective form of "social psychological policing" by punishing those who have breached unequal power relations of gender, generation, and ethnicity. We outline an agenda for participatory programs that promote critical thinking about stigma's social roots to stand alongside education and, where possible, legislation as an integral part of antistigma efforts.