ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author focuses on eight months’s field work in 1991 and forms part of her larger study of the social history and political economy of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Uganda. She explores the language used by a number of social groups in Uganda to discuss AIDS. The author examines the language used in reference to prostitution which is seen by many to be a major factor in the epidemic. She looks at Ugandan discourse on religion, sex and disease. Ugandans have expressed some reservations and much anger at the way in which much AIDS research has been dominated by foreign scientists who have quite different motivations. The politics of health are very much on the agenda in many parts of the world and the role of the state in relation to the health of its population is a contentious issue. AIDS discourse attains hysterical proportion on the subject of condoms.
