AIDS, Sex, and Culture: Global Politics and Survival in Southern Africa

"The book makes an important contribution through its exploration into forms of resistance to gender inequality . . . The book provides a much-needed note of optimism in the field of gender and AIDS as well as a strong case for why interventions that seek to transform women's lives must be rooted in the lived experiences of women in particular historical and social contexts." (Journal of Global Health, 5 July 2011)

"Ida has produced an evocative and lively account of the intersection between global and local dynamics in the Southern African AIDS epidemic. . . it is an important book which will appeal to a wide inter-disciplinary audience.. (The Geographical Journal, 1 March 2010)

"AIDS, Sex, and Culture will make an excellent text for undergraduate and graduate courses in global health needing to enhance the quality of existing curricula. The many clinicians who have essential expertise to contribute to building health infrastructure but who do not have time to study the extensive social science literature on the less developed world will welcome this easy read." (JAMA, July 2010)"AIDS activists and policy makers will be both impressed and ultimately heartened." (CHOICE, January 2010)

"A brilliant analysis of sadness, deprivation and hope. A must-read for anyone interested in the social fabric of contemporary South Africa, for anyone committed to gender justice around AIDS."
Michael Burawoy, University of California, Berkeley

"AIDS, Sex, and Culture greatly deepens our understanding of the politics of HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Susser's rich ethnography shows how local activism and women's desire for autonomy profoundly affect international, national, and scientific enterprises."
Emily Martin, New York University

"Ida Susser´s book is an exemplary demonstration of the social value of great scholarly research. It shows how patriarchal culture provides the ground for the formation of destructive networks of poverty, sex, and aids. Based on Susser´s cross-cultural ethnographic work it is a master piece of intellectually innovative, socially relevant research. It will be a key reference for social scientists aiming to understand the world in order to overcome our current misery. It should be mandatory reading for students, academics, and policy makers around the world."
Manuel Castells, University of California, Berkeley

An insightful, comprehensive, provocative personal and anthropological perspective across two decades on how the construction of gender has shaped responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in women in southern Africa and globally.
A must read for anyone interested in understanding and making a meaningful difference to the evolving HIV epidemic in women globally and in southern Africa.
Quarraisha Abdool Karim, Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa

Ida Susser offers a powerful statement of the forces that have shaped the epidemiology of AIDS in Africa. This visceral but unsentimental account places women's sexuality and reproductive autonomy -- as well as their unsubmissive assertion of rights to knowledge, health care, and bodily integrity --at the vortex of South Africa's transformations and is symptomatic of how gender inequities shape the face of AIDS in the world today.
Ann Stoler, The New School