HIV Interventions: Biomedicine and the Traffic between Information and Flesh

160 Pages·2009·1.028 MB·English

by  Marsha Rosengarten

In VIVo
The Cultural Mediations of Biomedical Science
PhIllIP ThurTle and roberT MITchell, Series editors
in vivo: the cultural mediations of biomedical science
is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of the medical and life sciences,
with a focus on the scientific and cultural practices used to process data,
model knowledge, and communicate about biomedical science. Through
historical, artistic, media, social, and literary analysis, books in the series
seek to understand and explain the key conceptual issues that animate and
inform biomedical developments.
The Transparent Body: A Cultural Analysis of Medical Imaging
by José Van Dijck
Generating Bodies and Gendered Selves: The Rhetoric of Reproduction
in Early Modern England
by Eve Keller
The Emergence of Genetic Rationality: Space, Time, and Information
in American Biological Science, 1870–1920
by Phillip Thurtle
Bits of Life: Feminist Studies of Media, Biocultures, and Technoscience
edited by Anneke Smelik and Nina Lykke
HIV Interventions: Biomedicine and the Traffic between Information and Flesh
by Marsha Rosengarten
hIV Interventions
Biomedicine and the Traffic between Information and Flesh
MarSha roSengarTen
university of washington press
Seattle and London
Copyright © 2009 by the University of Washington Press
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library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Rosengarten, Marsha.
HIV interventions : biomedicine and the traffic between information and flesh /
Marsha Rosengarten.
p. ; cm. — (In vivo)
"A Samuel and Althea Stroum book."
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-295-98959-4 (hbk. : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-295-98942-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. AIDS (Disease)—Social aspects. I. Title. II. Series: In vivo (Seattle, Wash.)
[DNLM: 1. HIV Infections—prevention & control. 2. HIV Infections—psychology.
3. Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice. 4. Health Promotion. 5. Information
Theory. wc 503.6 r812h 2009]
ra643.8.r67 2009
362.196'9792—dc22 2009013453
The paper used in this publication is acid-free and 90 percent recycled from at least
50 percent post-consumer waste. It meets the minimum requirements of Ameri-
can National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
for those who live with the epidemic

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1
Introduction: 3
hIV, Information, and Flesh
2
Imagination, Diagnostics, and 18
the Materialization of hIV
3
hIV: a Synergy of biological Matter, 36
Technological Matter, and Publics
4
The “Informed Matter” 59
of hIV Prevention
5
The human host: Performative and 82
relational Difference
6
conclusion 101

Notes 109
Bibliography 131
Index 141

Acknowledgments
ThIS book began SoMeTIMe ago wIThouT My realIzIng IT, whIle I
was working at the National Centre in HIV Social Research, University
of New South Wales, with an energetic team of committed staff led by Susan
Kippax, who remains an inspiration to me in many ways. Kane Race was
one of the first people I met there and I am deeply indebted to him as a col-
league and a friend. I thank him most especially for the erudite feedback he
provided on earlier drafts. Many evenings were spent with Dean Murphy
as we shared a flat and together tried to decipher the uncanny way HIV
prevention and treatment can undermine each other. I am very grateful to
him for pointing me to material that invariably proved relevant in subtle
and important ways. My research in the UK draws significantly from my
experience of working with John Imrie at Mortimer Market Clinic and for
this I also thank Ian Weller, the staff, and patients. The content reflects the
dual perspective on the epidemic I have gained by my move from Australia
to the United Kingdom.
Throughout I have been immensely lucky to have the friendship of a
number of very smart and generous thinkers. I value very much the intense
and stimulating discussions I have had with Ros Diprose and with Susie
MacLean and the support and encouragement I have received from Jane
Becker, Carla Drago, Harriet Grahame, Diane Hamer, Caroline Lawrance,
Niamh Stephenson, Nicole Vitellone, Catherine Waldby, and Elizabeth Wil-
son. At Goldsmiths, I especially want to thank Lisa Adkins, Vikki Bell, Mar-
iam Fraser, Celia Lury, Mike Michael, and Nirmal Puwar. I want to add that
I feel very fortunate to be part of a department that has taken such a leading
role in the theoretical work that I have found so valuable.
There are many others in the HIV field, plus, most important, those I
have interviewed over the years—without whom this book could not have
developed. In particular I want to thank Jamie Dunbar and Mark Chester
ix