From object to subject: Deconstructing anthropology and HIV/AIDS in South Africa

Abstract

South Africa has the highest burden of HIV/AIDS in the world. Theories that account for this are wide-ranging. This article argues that anthropological theories advanced to speak to the widespread nature and particular patterning of HIV vulnerability revert to problematic notions that betray age-old prejudices that once characterised the discipline. I argue that these theories do not, in fact, go to the root cause debates that are more contemporary and thus credible in accounting for HIV/AIDS in South Africa. South Africa has some glaring properties that cannot be ignored when accounting for its HIV/AIDS epicentre status. This article is a critical appraisal of anthropological HIV/AIDS discourse in South Africa. I argue that, in fact, such discourse serves ubiquitous purposes that can be duly read when one considers the history of the discipline, practices in the discipline and the power dynamics that reside in and arise from scholarly interventions.