Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

Published In

Letras Hispanas

Volume

14

Pages

7-21

Abstract

In the mid - 1990s, reports of young Cubans who were deliberately contracting HIV began to emerge in the US media. Although they received considerable attention outside the island, these stories were rarely discussed by the Castro regime, which disqualified them as the result of foreign fads and the immaturity of those affected. This article examines the responses to the aforementioned cases of intentional contagion in Cuban literature and film, both in the island and the exile. Using the theoretical framework of biopolitics, I argue that these cultural productions have explored, challenged, and given new meaning to the web of discourses on HIV/AIDS that circulated during the 1990s. I focus my attention on the novel Cólera de ángeles (1996) by Zoé Valdés, and short stories from the collections No dejes escapar la ira (2001) by Miguel Ángel Fraga, and Toda esa gente solitaria: 18 cuentos cubanos sobre el sida (1997), as well as the films Azúcar amarga (Bitter Sugar, 1996), directed by León Ichaso, and Boleto al paraíso (2010) by Gerardo Chijona.

Keywords

HIV, AIDS, Special Period, Intentional Contagion, Self-Inoculation, Biopolitics

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