HIV & AIDS

Life in Brackets": Biographical Uncertainties of HIV-Positive Women in South Africa

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As South Africa is witnessing a maturing AIDS epidemic, the experience and impact of
the disease are written ever more firmly into the biographical self-constructions of the infected. In
this article, I explore typical strategies of dealing with uncertainties arising from new challenges,
after the shock of ontological insecurity ensuing from the diagnosis, has been overcome. The
analysis is based on contrasting interpretations of problem-centered biographical interviews with
HIV-positive South African women. In the process, results have been formulated in terms of
hypotheses regarding links between biographical situatedness and strategies of action. The
hypotheses have been validated through case comparisons. The article highlights personal
transformation, social support and the search for normality as key aspects for understanding these
strategies and spells out how these are enabled, constrained and shaped within the social domains
of religion, AIDS activism and township youth culture.

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: ., 2010

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Language

English

ISSN

1438-5627

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Article

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