Memory and experience with children and young people living with HIV/AIDS: an autoethnographic essay

Abstract

We submitted a theoretical essay supporting the proposal of autoethnography as a method of dialogue with the anthropology of emotions. From the autoethnographic-based narrative practice, we highlight the importance of the bond and the place of one of the investigators in the lives of these youngsters. The autoethnographic accounts of the investigators are found at the base, emerging from a 20-year work experience with children and adolescents, now young adults living with HIV/AIDS. The memories, experiences, feelings, and messages recently received by WhatsApp underpin the exercise of reflexiveness. Autoethnography is, most of all, an ethical option based on ethnographic reflexiveness, which allows us to revisit care, relationships, and practice from a critical and reflexive perspective.