Keywords
biomedicine
chronicity
regimes of vitality
How to Cite
Abstract
The appearance of highly active antiretroviral treatments (HAART) marked a deep transformation in the lives of those diagnosed with HIV, as the retrovirus was no longer associated with fast and lethal immune system decay. These people inhabit a new vital space: the chronic disease, characterized by early ageing caused by chronic inflammation of the immune system. This paper puts forward the hypothesis that the chronic condition of HIV patients transcends the mere biological or biomedical realms to be defined in terms of what we will be call a regime of vitality. The production of a new type of citizen, the chronic ones, will be analyzed using a qualitative methodology. Citizens whose understanding of themselves and the world is shaped by biomedical norms and biological data related to HIV representationsThis journal is registered under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License. Thus, this work may be reproduced, distributed, and publicly shared in digital format, as long as the names of the authors and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana are acknowledged. Others are allowed to quote, adapt, transform, auto-archive, republish, and create based on this material, for any purpose (even commercial ones), provided the authorship is duly acknowledged, a link to the original work is provided, and it is specified if changes have been made. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana does not hold the rights of published works and the authors are solely responsible for the contents of their works; they keep the moral, intellectual, privacy, and publicity rights. Approving the intervention of the work (review, copy-editing, translation, layout) and the following outreach, are granted through an use license and not through an assignment of rights. This means the journal and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana cannot be held responsible for any ethical malpractice by the authors. As a consequence of the protection granted by the use license, the journal is not required to publish recantations or modify information already published, unless the errata stems from the editorial management process. Publishing contents in this journal does not generate royalties for contributors.