Abstract
After twenty-six years of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the disease's impact on people of African descent throughout the world has been devastating. This essay draws from performance ethnographic research on Ballroom culture and HIV/AIDS in Detroit, Michigan. Ballroom culture is a Black and Latina/o queer community in North America. In this examination, I delineate how Black queer members of the Ballroom community create and engage in HIV/AIDS prevention strategies through performance. I argue that Ballroom community members deploy forms of intravention, strategies for HIV/AIDS prevention that are created by and emerge from within the Ballroom community, a so-called “high risk community.”
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 253-274 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | Souls |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2009 |
Keywords
- At-risk communities
- Ballroom culture
- Black MSM
- Communities of support
- HIV/AIDS
- Intravention
- Performance
- Prevention balls
- Stigmatization
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cultural Studies
- Sociology and Political Science