Waging war: discourses of HIV/AIDS in South African media

Abstract

This paper explores a discourse of war against HIV/AIDS evident in the Daily Dispatch, a South African daily newspaper, from 1985 to 2000, and discusses the implications of this in terms of the way in which HIV/AIDS is constructed. The discursive framework of the war depends, fundamentally, on the personification of HIV/AIDS, in which agency is accorded to the virus, and which allows for its construction as the enemy. The war discourse positions different groups of subjects (the diseased body, the commanders, the experts, the ordinary citizens) in relations of power. The diseased body, which is the point of transmission, the polluter or infector, is cast as the 'Other', as a dark and threatening force. This takes on racialised overtones. The government takes on the role of commander, directing the war through policy and intervention strategies. Opposition to government is couched in a struggle discourse that dove-tails with the overall framework of war. Medical and scientific understandings pre-dominate in the investigative practices and expert commentary on the war, with alternative voices (such as those of people living with HIV/AIDS) being silenced. The ordinary citizen is incited to take on prevention and caring roles with a strong gendered overlay.

The Meaning of Living in the Time of COVID-19. A Large Sample Narrative Inquiry

“…With regard to the interpretation of the pandemic scenario in terms of a mere health emergency and war against an unknown enemy, which forces government and individuals to fight for people’s survival (see SUs labeled “Surviving a war” and “Living with an emergency”), one can see its full continuity with the media and institutional discourses. Here the pandemic crisis was identified substantially with a health emergency and framed by affect-laden metaphors, with a clear prevalence of militaristic language: COVID-19 was widely depicted as an “enemy to defeat,” hospitals as “the trenches,” doctors and nurses as “heroes on the frontline,” and the counter-action against the virus as a “war” ( Cassandro, 2020 ), as often found in the political and media discourses about previous epidemics (e.g., AIDS: Connelly and Macleod, 2003 ; SARS: Meng and Berger, 2008 ; Ebola: Trèková, 2015 ). Seminal studies argued that the use of militaristic language and metaphors makes it easier to sacrifice people and their rights ( Fornari, 1970 ; Ross, 1986 ) and exculpate governments from responsibility ( Larson et al, 2005 ), such as the kind of economic investment made in the health system and research.…”

L’apocalypse dans les représentations de l’épidémie du VIH/sida : du religieux au médiatique

“…Les stratégies de résistance à cette forme de terrorisme intellectuel feraient appel en particulier à la créa-tion littéraire dont Garmire (1996), à partir de l'analyse des romans parus sur le VIH/sida entre 1982 et 1992, a montré le rôle majeur dans la déconstruc-tion du chantage apocalyptique. Cette production contribuerait à l'empathie et à la sollicitude envers les PVVIH et à leur processus de normalisation, en atténuant les excès et en resituant le VIH/sida dans sa réalité quotidienne, favorisant ainsi « une tendresse invincible à l'égard de la vie et de ceux qui souffrent » (Ménil, 1997, p. 209-210 (Kinsella, 1989 ;Schwartz et Murray, 1996 ;Dagenais, 1997 ;Lupton, 1992Lupton, , 1993Lupton, , 1994Connelly et Macleod, 2003 ;Cullen, 2006). Les médias écrits ont à plusieurs reprises utilisé la réfé-rence apocalyptique tant dans les titres que dans le contenu des articles pour souligner les lourdes menaces que font peser le VIH/sida, comme le montre une recension de textes journalistiques.…”

'But where are our moral heroes?' An analysis of South African press reporting on children affected by HIV/AIDS

“…Throughout the literature, studies consistently document pervasive discourses of morality -including in particular discourses of moral panic -in the media's reporting of HIV/AIDS (see for example Connelly & Macleod, 2003;Juhasz, 1990;Kasoma, 2000;Kistenberg, 2003;Kitzinger, 1995;Konick, 2003;Linda, 2000;Lupton, 1994;Mchombu, 2000;Odhiambo, 2000;Page, 2003;Sacks, 1996;Watney, 1989b). AIDS epidemics around the world are shown to be framed by the media as epidemics of moral deviance, driven by (and largely located within) categories of people who are (re)presented as transgressive, as immoral, as abnormal: gay men, injecting drug users, sex workers, women who are HIV-positive who have sex and who become pregnant, 'promiscuous' people and so on.…”