Patriarchal and medical discourses: shaping the experience and management of HIV-related stigma in Turkey

Oktem, Pinar (2013) Patriarchal and medical discourses: shaping the experience and management of HIV-related stigma in Turkey. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

The stigma attached to HIV/AIDS remains a pervasive problem, despite the
progress that has been achieved in the global response and the expectations that
universal access to treatment will reduce it. This thesis explores how HIV-related
discourses are shaped and how people living with HIV (PLHIV) experience and
manage stigmatization in Turkey, where HIV prevalence is low and the stigma
attached to HIV/AIDS is powerful and widespread.
The aim of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of the social construction
and management of stigma, by offering an empirically informed discussion of the
management of the biological body and social identity in relation to broader
discursive power relations. Self-management of HIV and its stigma is considered in
this thesis as a process of identity construction in which actors are constantly
negotiating with the discursive power relations that exercise control over them. The
roles of patriarchal and medical discourses are discussed as the main components
of the power structure underlying HIV-related stigma in Turkey. Exploring the ways
in which PLHIV manage physical health, social relationships and social identity, the
thesis focuses on the potential of PLHIV as active agents, who react to, resist or
challenge HIV-related stigma.
Primary data were generated through biographical narrative interviews with PLHIV.
Participant observation in the networking activities of PLHIV and non-governmental
organisations provided additional data. Semi-structured interviews with key
informants were conducted, to explore the power structure underlying stigma
further. Additionally, HIV-related policy documents and statements were reviewed.
The research provides data to contribute to the development of HIV-related stigmareduction
policies in Turkey. Considering criticisms of the dominant
conceptualisation of stigma addressed in the existing literature, the main theoretical
contribution to the overall literature on chronic illness and stigma management is
the investigation of the link between social identity and discursive power relations,
with a specific focus on the active role of the individuals in negotiating and
challenging stigma.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development)
Depositing User:	Users 2593 not found.
Date Deposited:	10 Jul 2013 11:35
Last Modified:	24 May 2017 15:21
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/42972
DOI:

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