In the Life: Accounting and Triage for Black LGBTQIA Communities in HIV Prevention

Abstract

The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to persist into its fourth decade with black LGBTQIA communities at the center of its continuation. This dissertation examines black LGBTQIA communities’ relationship to the HIV/AIDS epidemic through HIV prevention strategies in Atlanta, GA. I provide a Black Geographies study of HIV prevention with attention given to the theoretical relationship between biological citizenship, Black Feminist Thought, and Queer of Color Critique. I explore these relationships through an analysis of racial formations in HIV interventions and the ways in which community-based organization in Atlanta, GA navigate limited HIV prevention resources. My analysis uses the phrase the “hidden epidemic” as a conceptual tool understand the ways black LGBTQIA communities’ access HIV/AIDS resources and HIV prevention strategies. My dissertation contributes to current geographical scholarship on health care, antiblackness, citizenship, and queer worldmaking.