Overview

Of the more than 40 million people around the world currently living with HIV/AIDS, two million live in Latin America and the Caribbean. In an engaging chronicle illuminated by his travels in the region, Shawn Smallman shows how the varying histories and cultures of the nations of Latin America have influenced the course of the pandemic. He demonstrates that a disease spread in an intimate manner is profoundly shaped by impersonal forces. In Latin America, Smallman explains, the AIDS pandemic has fractured into a series of subepidemics, driven by different factors in each country. Examining cultural issues and public policies at the country, regional, and global levels, he discusses why HIV has had such a heavy impact on Honduras, for instance, while leaving the neighboring state of Nicaragua relatively untouched, and why Latin America as a whole has kept infection rates lower than other global regions, such as Africa and Asia. Smallman draws on the most recent scientific research as well as his own interviews with AIDS educators, gay leaders, drug traffickers, crack addicts, transvestites, and doctors in Cuba, Brazil, and Mexico. Highlighting the realities of gender, race, sexuality, poverty, politics, and international relations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, Smallman brings a fresh perspective to understanding the cultures of the region as well as the global AIDS crisis.

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9780807857960

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Reviews

[Smallman] provides the reader with a useful guide to the actual face and history of AIDS for every country and macro-region in Latin America....[and] provides a quick compact guide to the history and society of each Latin American region, a component that adds value to a source book that no student of health and illness in the Americas should miss.--<i>The Americas</i>

[Smallman] provides the reader with a useful guide to the actual face and history of AIDS for every country and macro-region in Latin America .[and] provides a quick compact guide to the history and society of each Latin American region, a component that adds value to a sourcebook that no student of health and illness in the Americas should miss. <br>- The Americas

An ambitious new study of the history of AIDS in this region. . . . Will provide . . . anyone interested in the topic with an excellent introduction. <br> -- North American Congress on Latin America

An important contribution to the quite scarce literature on this current epidemic in the region. . . . Will appeal not only to a broad audience but also to scholars working in the history of AIDS as epidemic, as well as professionals, activists, and policy makers who are dealing with AIDS as history. <br>-- Hispanic American Historical Review

Anyone with an interest in Latin America or an interest in how HIV has differentially affected what appear to be otherwise similar countries will find this book worth reading. . . . It is a knowledgeable historian's perspective, and a very valuable one.

Author Information

Shawn Smallman is vice provost for instruction, dean of undergraduate studies, and professor of international studies at Portland State University.

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