Tackling with taboos: The case of HIV associations in Turkey

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2756096_(Table of contents)

This thesis aims to analyze the openings, limitations, and different forms of HIV activism with a particular focus on the self-organizations of people living with HIV in Turkey, which are called "positive associations". It aims to demonstrate how HIV activists position themselves, frame their activism, and develop discourses within a context where stigmatization, marginalization, and discrimination towards people living with HIV are widespread. Between October 2021 and April 2022, I conducted 6 in-depth interviews with activists who play an active role in HIV associations and 7 interviews with people living with HIV who have had contact with these associations as counselees. I also conducted ethnographic fieldwork in conferences, meetings, and workshops regarding HIV activism within the scope of this M.A. thesis research. This thesis attempts to arrive at a more nuanced understanding of social movements through a close analysis of a growing activist field in Turkey, problematizing static and fixed conceptualizations of activism. Secondly, it provides an anthropological lens to a highly medicalized field, contributing to the social science literature on health advocacy struggles in particular and social movements in general. Finally, it aims to bridge academia and activism through making the voices of HIV activists and people living with HIV heard in their struggle to destigmatize HIV within and beyond academia.