(Re)Thinking the Corporeality of HIV/AIDS in the Post-HAART Era: A Critical Perspective

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to expose the hidden facet of the interface technology-body through a theoretical application of the concept of pharmakon to the fi eld of HIV/AIDS. Based on the works of Plato and Jacques Derrida, the concept of pharmakon is explored and situated within the interface technology-body. Thus, the main objective of this theoretical piece is to discuss how HIV medications as pharmakon are involved in the creation of new forms of corpo/reality for people living with HIV/AIDS, namely the cyborg and the mutant. Inspired by Haraway’s cyborg and Cronenberg’s mutants, the ambivalent quality of technology is explored through the technological fi gure and the monstrous fi gure, two different but complementary representations that expose the bodily experiences of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART).