Customer Reviews

Endangered Relations: Negotiating Sex and AIDS in Thailand

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This book is a first in telling the story of HIV/AIDS in Thailand. There is little in which to compare it with in terms of publications on HIV/AIDS because despite the volumes of reports, numerous chapters in books, and other analyses on HIV/AIDS in Thailand there is no one book that tries to capture the history of the epidemic and the lessons learned. It is a complete exegesis of the epidemic in that it devotes much time to the response of the unfolding epidemic of the early 1990s, and the epidemiology of the spread of HIV, while at the same time exploring culture and context. Thus it is a valuable critique of policy and programming in the early days of the epidemic, but an even-handed critique that never entirely moves away from what is the strength of the book and that is the ethnographic context. The critique is not so much a basis for confronting the supposed wisdom of the time but for presenting another view of the world of sex and sexuality which can never be reducible to simple formulae. Thus it is a thorough anthropological exploration of gender and sexual cultures, as well as disease and contagion and the meanings that villagers bring to these, especially in the context of interventions and media campaigns. This exploration is invaluable given that there are as many as one million HIV positive people in Thailand and increasing numbers in surrounding countries. If lessons are to be learnt from the Thai experience it is documentation like this that needs to be read and digested. It may not be an easy read for a bio-medical person or someone who is looking for the definitive epidemiological study, for the focus is on unravelling the layers of meaning behind behaviour and attitudes, but this is in a narrative style that is very accessible. There are no broad theoretical constructs but there is much theory that supports the empirical findings, and which rather than detracting from the narrative serves to edify, and often amplify that what may seem simple is in fact often complex.

"Endangered Relations:Negotiating Sex and AIDS in Thailand" by Chris Lyttleton should be a required textbook for all college students studying sociology, anthropology, and public health. The author is certainly a pioneer that has ventured into third world countries to teach the indigenous people the devistating effects of contracting AIDS and how this disease kills the individual, and the strength of their society and nation. The time, effort, thoughtfulness, and sensitivity of this book is unparrelled in our time. I thank Chris for sharing his genious through this book with us. A must read for college students so they will not forget the AIDS pandemic, in hopes too that they will follow Chris Lyttleton's lead and help educate the young and old of all countries.Truely a book that is above politics.

I had much admired Lyttleton's journal articles, but found this book to be disappointing. He doesn't mention the low HIV prevalence in the region where he did his work until well into the book. The naive reader may feel misled; the knowledgable reader will know that much of what Lyttleton has to say is not placed in a proper context. His effort to develop a fairly conventional neo-Marxist polictical economy of HIV in NE Thailand falls flat when one considers the low prevalence and the lack of linear links to economic conditions. This should not avert attention for ineequities but, in telling the story of HIV in Thailand one should attend to sexual networking, mixing patterns, social patterns, etc. His treatment of areas where he did not do original field work is often superficial, woefully incomplete, and/or muddled. Topics such as homosexuality and vaccine research are hampered by this. The relative success of Thailand's first generation prevention efforts also gets short shrift, which seems typical of many "critical" analyses. The need for new directions need not negate what has been accomplished. Like too much of the writing on HIV in Thailand, the effort to present a rather predictable agenda gets in the way of telling the real story which is far more nuanced and complex than the one offered here.