Stigma: an ethnography of mental illness and HIV/AIDS in China

Based on two and a half years of fieldwork in China, this book examines the cultural genesis and social mechanisms of stigma related to mental illness and HIV/AIDS in China.

It also explores the bio-politics on stigma through detailed description of social exclusion experienced by people suffering from mental illness or HIV/AIDS and by systematic comparison on stigma between the two illnesses in the Chinese context.

Through the comparison, this book describes the micro socio-dynamic process of stigmatization in the local Chinese context, highlights the identity transformation accompanying the illness trajectory the patients and their families have lived through, and ultimately connects Chinese society and its community-centered social value system and institutional arrangement to the stigma associated with mental illness and HIV/AIDS.Contents:Theoretical Reviews and CritiquesEthnography of Stigma Associated with Mental IllnessEthnography of Stigma Associated with HIV/AIDS in BeijingEthnography of Stigma Associated with HIV/AIDS in YunnanA Comparative PerspectiveConclusionReadership: Readers who are interested in learning more about the cultural genesis and social mechnism related to mental illness and HIV/AIDS in China, and how they connect with the Chinese society and the social values in general.Keywords:Stigma;Ethnography;Mental Illness;HIV/AIDS;China;Chinese Society;Social IssuesKey Features:One of the first stigma studies on mental illness and HIV/AIDS in ChinaOne of the first ethnographies on the living conditions of people suffering from mental illness and HIV/AIDS in ChinaCombines social and cultural construction perspectives on stigma