AIDS as a paradox of manhood and development in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

When AIDS emerged in the Kilimanjaro region in 1984, many Chagga (the predominant ethnic group in the region) viewed it as a ‘disease of development’. Whereas AIDS was commonly seen in the West as a form of punishment for non-reproductive and non-productive lifestyles, in East Africa it represented paradoxes in reproductive and productive life—especially for young, mobile men. This article discusses the emergence of the conditions of risk for HIV among young adults in the 1980s and 1990s, and then explores the perceptions of local actors about the historical and demographic processes that have surrounded the symbolic associations of AIDS. The themes that AIDS evoked were different for men and women; from one perspective, AIDS was seen as an attenuated crisis of the productive and reproductive labors of manhood. For people in northern Kilimanjaro, this disease illuminated contested issues in historical dialogues about social change and the moral value of male participation in idealized forms of work and prescribed male/female unions. The implications of these cultural and demographic realities for AIDS prevention are discussed in the conclusion.