Making sense of HIV stigma: Representations in young Africans’ HIV-related narratives

Abstract

In addition to undermining the quality of life of those infected and affected by HIV, HIV-related stigma impedes access to prevention and treatment services, thereby threatening to erode the promise of recent advances in these areas. This paper provides insights into the socio-contextual and sense-making processes that inform HIV stigma through an innovative form of empirical data: creative fictional narratives written by young Africans (aged 10–24) for an HIV-themed scriptwriting competition. From a sample of 586 narratives from six sub-Saharan countries, we selected for illustrative purposes three on account of the complexity of their representation of HIV stigma. We conducted a close reading of each, using stigma theory as a lens. Through their explicit accounts of stigmatising attitudes and behaviours of characters and through implicit contradictions, tensions and ambivalence in their messaging, the narratives provide insights into the symbolic and social processes that create and sustain HIV stigma. Our analysis illuminates the authors’ struggles to navigate the cultural resources available to them in their efforts to make sense of HIV, gender and sexuality. It highlights some limitations of current communication efforts and the potential for narrative-based communication approaches to engage with representations that devalue women and people living with HIV.

Keywords:

• HIV stigma
• sub-Saharan Africa
• youth
• narrative

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to Kim Miller for her advice and to research assistants Chris Barnett, Laura Beres, Liz Coleclough, Wendee Gardner, Rosalie Haughton, Samantha Huffman, Caddie Putnam Rankin and Kanaka Sathasivan.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

The research described here was supported by grant number 1R03 HD054323 01 A1 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This research was also supported in part by the Emory Center for AIDS Research [grant number P30 AI050409] and by Emory Global Health Institute.