Pozitively Me: HIV Support Groups, Culture and Individualism in Toronto

In Toronto, numerous support groups exist for people living with HIV (PLWH). Membership is based on HIV status and sometimes an additional demographic factor of ethnicity, age, sexuality or gender. Groups cover a range of topics including physical and psycho-social health, and everyday challenges of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical anthropology 2020-11, Vol.39 (8), p.689-703
Main Author: Murray, David A. B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropology, Medical
Canada
Citizenship
Cultural Diversity
Ethnicity
Health status
HIV
HIV Infections - ethnology
HIV Infections - psychology
HIV Infections - therapy
HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Individualism
Individuality
multiculturalism
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Neoliberalism
Ontario - ethnology
Self-Help Groups
Sexuality
Social support
Support groups
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Summary:In Toronto, numerous support groups exist for people living with HIV (PLWH). Membership is based on HIV status and sometimes an additional demographic factor of ethnicity, age, sexuality or gender. Groups cover a range of topics including physical and psycho-social health, and everyday challenges of living with HIV. Based on participant observation in three support groups, this article examines how individualism and cultural difference structure 'positive living' therapeutic frameworks, and how the prioritization of the former over the latter contributes to the production of a depoliticized, neoliberal formation of multicultural therapeutic citizenship with differing effects for differentially positioned PLWH.
ISSN:0145-9740
1545-5882
DOI:10.1080/01459740.2020.1711754