Workable sisterhood : the political journey of stigmatized women with HIV/AIDS / Michele Tracy Berger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Berger, Michele Tracy, 1968-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women with social disabilities--Political activity--United States.

Women with social disabilities.

HIV-positive women--Political activity--United States.

HIV-positive women.

Political participation--United States.

Political participation.

Marginality, Social--United States.

Marginality, Social.

AIDS (Disease)--Social aspects--United States.

AIDS (Disease).

Stigma (Social psychology).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (247 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Workable Sisterhood is an empirical look at sixteen HIV-positive women who have a history of drug use, conflict with the law, or a history of working in the sex trade. What makes their experience with the HIV/AIDS virus and their political participation different from their counterparts of people with HIV? Michele Tracy Berger argues that it is the influence of a phenomenon she labels "intersectional stigma," a complex process by which women of color, already experiencing race, class, and gender oppression, are also labeled, judged, and given inferior treatment because of their status as drug users, sex workers, and HIV-positive women. The work explores the barriers of stigma in relation to political participation, and demonstrates how stigma can be effectively challenged and redirected. The majority of the women in Berger's book are women of color, in particular African Americans and Latinas. The study elaborates the process by which these women have become conscious of their social position as HIV-positive and politically active as activists, advocates, or helpers. She builds a picture of community-based political participation that challenges popular, medical, and scholarly representations of "crack addicted prostitutes" and HIV-positive women as social problems or victims, rather than as agents of social change. Berger argues that the women's development of a political identity is directly related to a process called "life reconstruction." This process includes substance- abuse treatment, the recognition of gender as a salient factor in their lives, and the use of nontraditional political resources.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. The Politics of Intersectional Stigma for Women with HIV/AIDS

Chapter 2. Women's Narrative Bio-Sketches

Chapter 3. Capturing the Research Journey/ Listening to Women's Lives

Chapter 4. Narratives of Injustice: Discovery of the HIV/AIDS Virus

Chapter 5. Life Reconstruction and the Development of Nontraditional Political Resources

Chapter 6. Life Reconstruction and Gender

Chapter 7. Making Workable Sisterhood Possible: The Multiple Expressions of Political Participation

Chapter 8. Looking to the Future: Struggle and Commitment for Stigmatized Women with HIV/AIDS

Appendix

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [209]-224) and index.

ISBN:

9786612665738

9781282665736

1282665731

9781400826384

1400826381

OCLC:

699474730