Landscapes of Activism

Civil Society, HIV and AIDS Care in Northern Mozambique

By Joel Christian Reed

SERIES: Medical Anthropology

Rutgers University Press

AIDS activists are often romanticized as extremely noble and selfless. However, the relationships among HIV support group members highlighted in Landscapes of Activism are hardly utopian or ideal. At first, the group has everything it needs, a thriving membership, and support from major donors. Soon, the group undergoes an identity crisis over money and power, eventually fading from the scene. As government and development institutions embraced activist demands—decentralizing AIDS care through policies of health systems strengthening—civil society was increasingly rendered obsolete. Charting this transition—from subjects, to citizens, and back again—reveals the inefficacy of protest, and the importance of community resilience. The product of in-depth ethnography and focused anthropological inquiry, this is the first book on AIDS activists in Mozambique. AIDS activism’s strange decline in southern Africa, rather than a reflection of citizen apathy, is the direct result of targeted state and donor intervention.

‘Landscapes of Activism is a remarkable, eye-opening examination of the realities of HIV activism in the global South – what fuels it, what undermines it, and most importantly, the uses to which it has been put by powerful global health players. Reed offers a beautifully written but unsettling ethnographic account of the marred, and at times dysfunctional, forms of civic life that have evolved alongside increasingly biomedical and technocratic HIV treatment efforts.’
Nora Kenworthy, author of Mistreated: The Political Consequences of the Fight Against AIDS in Lesotho

Landscapes of Activism is a rich and nuanced ethnography. Its real strength lies in the quality of Reed’s research material and the social analysis generated from it. Of all the texts dealing with AIDS activism in Africa, this book offers a fresh critique, and its Mozambican-focus makes it particularly interesting. Mandisa Mbali, author of South African AIDS Activism and Global Health Politics, Senior Lecturer in Historical Stud

A thoughtful and timely account, this book examines the efforts of HIV support groups to become part of the HIV story in Mozambique -- and their struggle to do so amid the political demands of the state and the overwhelming presence of transnational organizations. Charting the ‘rise and fall’ of HIV activism in Mozambique’s northernmost province, the book movingly describes the everyday challenges facing support group members, from the politics of affiliation to efforts at remaking the self. Well-written and evocative, this book will speak to readers interested in the challenges of providing care in complex landscapes of support and politics. Ramah McKay, Department of History & Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania

A thoughtful and timely account, this book examines the efforts of HIV support groups to become part of the HIV story in Mozambique - and their struggle to do so amid the political demands of the state and the overwhelming presence of transnational organizations. Charting the ‘rise and fall’ of HIV activism in Mozambique’s northernmost province, the book movingly describes the everyday challenges facing support group members, from the politics of affiliation to efforts at remaking the self. Well-written and evocative, this book will speak to readers interested in the challenges of providing care in complex landscapes of support and politics. Ramah McKay, department of history & sociology of science, University of Pennsylvania

Chronicle of Higher Education 'New Scholarly Books' Weekly Book List, August 31, 2018,' compiled by Nina C. Ayoub Chronicle of Higher Education

JOEL CHRISTIAN REED is a medical anthropologist and epidemiologist from Lexington, Kentucky. He currently works with the USAID-funded Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program.

List of Tables and Figures
List of Abbreviations
Introduction - The Eye of Fátima
1 - Studying HIV and HIV Positive Persons
2 - “Movements” of the Past – Mozambique, Caridade, and Treatment in Africa
3 - AIDS Associations in Cabo Delgado Province
4 - Challenges to HIV/AIDS Activism in the “Sub-universe” of Cabo Delgado
5 - The (Dis)Integration of the Day Hospitals
6 - Biosocial Governmentality
References
About the Author
Index

Related Titles