Unimagined community [[electronic resource] ] : sex, networks, and AIDS in Uganda and South Africa / / Robert J. Thornton

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910455045003321
• Autore: Thornton Robert J
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Berkeley, : University of California Press, c2008
• ISBN: 1-282-36077-9; 9786612360770; 0-520-94265-5
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (305 p.)
• Collana: California series in public anthropology ; ; 20
• Disciplina: 614.5/993920096761
• Soggetti: AIDS (Disease) - Uganda - Epidemiology; AIDS (Disease) - South Africa - Epidemiology; AIDS (Disease) - Social aspects - Uganda; AIDS (Disease) - Social aspects - South Africa; Electronic books.
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-274) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Front matter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Ethnic Names and Languages -- Preface -- 1. Introduction: Meaning and Structure in the Study of AIDS -- 2. Comparing Uganda and South Africa: Sexual Networks, Family Structure, and Property -- 3. The Social Determinants of Sexual Network Configuration -- 4. The Tightening Chain: Civil Society and Uganda's Response to HIV/AIDS -- 5. AIDS in Uganda: Years of Chaos and Recovery -- 6. Siliimu as Native Category: AIDS as Local Knowledge in Uganda -- 7. The Indigenization of AIDS: Governance and the Political Response in Uganda -- 8. South Africa's Struggle: The Omission and Commission of Truth about AIDS -- 9. Imagining AIDS: South Africa's Viral Politics -- 10. Flows of Sexual Substance: The Sexual Network in South Africa -- 11. Preventing AIDS: A New Paradigm for a New Strategy -- Notes -- References -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: This groundbreaking work, with its unique anthropological approach, sheds new light on a central conundrum surrounding AIDS in Africa. Robert J. Thornton explores why HIV prevalence fell during the 1990's in Uganda despite that country's having one of Africa's highest fertility ; rates, while during the same period HIV prevalence rose in South Africa, the country with Africa's lowest fertility rate. Thornton finds that culturally and socially determined differences in the structure of sexual networks-rather than changes in individual behavior-were responsible for these radical differences in HIV prevalence. Incorporating such factors as property, mobility, social status, and political authority into our understanding of AIDS transmission, Thornton's analysis also suggests new avenues for fighting the disease worldwide.