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The construction of the Aids patient in South African bio-medical discourse

The humanised Aids patient increasingly finds itself a part of mainstream popular rhetoric.
There was a time however, when the Aids patient was no more than a disease ravaged corpse
without rights. Conventional histories and analyses tend to gloss over this fact, or argue that
the new, authentic patient is a triumph of wisdom over brute ignorance, fear and superstition.
Such accounts overlook their own role and the part played by the bio-medical sciences in
constructing the Aids patient. This thesis, in contradistinction, traces the Aids patient's
portrayal in South African bio-medical discourses, applying to it the work of Michel
Foucault. In doing so the dynamic interactions of power and knowledge are brought under
the spotlight. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/17216
Date09 1900
CreatorsLightfoot, Neil Gordon
ContributorsButchart, Alexander, 1961-
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDissertation
Format1 online resource (vi, 109 leaves)

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