INTRODUCTION

“She died of shame—that stigma! The family members, especially the husband, could not be associated with her after the doctors revealed her [HIV+ (human immunodeficiency virus positive)] status, so she refused to eat, pretending a toothache.” This was the brief aside I was quietly offered after the mood of the conversation suddenly shifted from lighthearted to somber among the other guests in the house I was visiting. A woman had been buried the previous day, leaving locals to decipher the meanings of the various elements of her biography that had been exposed during her funeral. It was at the