Second Chances
Surviving AIDS in Uganda
Susan Reynolds Whyte (Edited by)
9780822357957
Hardback, published 21 November 2014
328 pages, 12 illustrations
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.6 cm, 0.558 kg
“The stories are compelling, and the analytical chapters do a good job connecting contemporary developments with the existing anthropology of HIV/AIDS…. Recommended.”
- M. M. Heaton (Choice) “Second Chances is recommended reading for anyone interested in the experiences of people with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. This is also a good book for anyone who is thinking about health systems. One of Whyte’s points that I found particularly important is that people do not simply access treatment, but achieve it.”
- Anita Chary (Global Health Hub) “This is a unique study because it focuses on individuals and how disease and health care affects them. It provides a glimpse at a culture that is rarely covered, as well. Academic libraries supporting social sciences and health sciences programs will want to add this fascinating look at HIV/AIDS from a singular perspective to their collections."
- Barbara Bibel (Library Journal) “Readers familiar with the work of Susan Reynolds Whyte and her colleagues will not be disappointed in this compelling book. In the end, the lesson of Second Chances is that reliance on ‘contingent sociality’ means that not everyone who needs ARTs can get them. The chance for a second chance, therefore, is inherently fragile and unequal. Reynolds Whyte and colleagues offer no solutions, but the moving stories of survival and striving for both a living and a life remind us of the work that remains”
- Janet W. McGrath (Medical Anthropology Quarterly) "Second Chances is an excellent source of health narratives about negotiating HIV status in Uganda. Second Chances will naturally interest anthropologists of East Africa, HIV and biosociality."
- Jason Johnson Peretz (Somatosphere) "Second Chances offers a rigorous and vivid look at the first generation of Ugandans with AIDS to have relatively wide access to antiretroviral therapy . . . . The book is a compelling chronicle of the terms of this 'life sentence'."
- Tyler Zoanni (Social Anthropology)
During the first decade of this millennium, many thousands of people in Uganda who otherwise would have died from AIDS got second chances at life. A massive global health intervention, the scaling up of antiretroviral therapy (ART), saved them and created a generation of people who learned to live with treatment. As clients they joined programs that offered free antiretroviral medicine and encouraged "positive living." Because ART is not a cure but a lifelong treatment regime, its consequences are far-reaching for society, families, and individuals. Drawing on personal accounts and a broad knowledge of Ugandan culture and history, the essays in this collection explore ART from the perspective of those who received second chances. Their concerns about treatment, partners, children, work, food, and bodies reveal the essential sociality of Ugandan life. The collection is based on research undertaken by a team of social scientists including both Western and African scholars.
Contributors. Phoebe Kajubi, David Kyaddondo, Lotte Meinert, Hanne O. Mogensen, Godfrey Etyang Siu, Jenipher Twebaze, Michael A. Whyte, Susan Reynolds Whyte
Polygraphy vii
Introduction. The First Generation 1
Case I. Robinah and Joyce: The Connecting Sisters 25
1. Connections 34
Case II. Saddam: Treatment Programs 47
2. Clientship 56
Case III. Suzan: The Necessity of Travel 71
3. Mobility 80
Case IV. MamaGirl &
MamaBoy: Family Matters 95
4. Families 104
Case V. Alice: Keeping a Good Man 119
5. Partners 128
Case VI. Jackie: Children without Grandparents 143
6. Children 152
Case VII. John: Working Contingencies 167
7. Work 176
Case VIII. Hassan: Soft Food and Town Life 191
8. Food 200
Case IX. Jolly: Appearances and Numbers 215
9. Bodies 223
Case X. Rachel: Buckets of Medicine 237
10. Medicine 245
Case XI. Dominic: A Multitude of Adversities 259
11. Life 268
Acknowledgments 285
Bibliography 287
Contributors 299
Index 301
