Cultural and Political Geographies of the AIDS Crisis in Ireland Gisele Eugenia O’Connell This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of M.Litt (Master of Literature) Maynooth University Department of Geography February, 2017 Head of Department: Professor Gerry Kearns Supervisors: Professor Gerry Kearns and Dr Alistair Fraser Contents Abstract………...…………………..…………………………………………………..……………..……..2 Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………….…………...3 List of Tables/Figures…………………………………………………………………………………........5 1. Research Overview………………………..…………………………………………………….…..........6 1.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………............................6 1.2 The Irish AIDS Crisis and Cultural Context……...………………………………………..…...........8 2. Conceptual Framework. Biopolitical Precarity and AIDS Governance…………………………….......14 2.1 Biopolitics and The Government of Life……………………………………………………………....14 2.2 Precarity and Precarious Life…………………………………………………………….…............22 2.3 Precarity and Services/Organisation…………….………………………………………................29 3. Research Design……………………………………………………………………………….…..........34 3.1 Methodology……..…….……………………………………………………………………..........34 3.2 Ethics…………….………………………………………………………………………………....39 3.3 Participants………………………………………….………………………….............................41 3.4Methods…………………………………….………………………………………………………..43 3.4.1 Ethnographic Observation……………………………………………................................43 3.4.2 Interviews………………………………………………………………..............................46 3.4.3 Documentary Research……………………………………………………………………...46 4. Performances of Precarity in Ireland’s AIDS Quilts…………………………………………….……...52 4.1 Background to the AIDS Quilt…………………………………………………............................52 4.2 Ireland’s Voluntary Sector Quilt Projects………………………………………………...……......55 4.3 Naming, Shaming and The State of Stigmatisation………………..…………………………….....59 4.4 Quilting and the Queer Diaspora…..………………………………………………………………..72 4.5 Pathworks of Precarity In-Place…………………...………………………………………………..80 5 Precarious Blood and the Legacy of Ireland’s AIDS Crisis…………………….….................................99 5.1 Space Blood and the Body…………………………………………………………….…………...99 5.2 Donation Disease and Deferrals…………………………………………………………………..103 5.3 Bad Blood and Political Geographies of Precarious Citizenship………………………………....109 5.3.1 The Irish Blood Transfusion Service: An Introduction………………………………….….109 5.3.2 Regionalizing the Blood Donor Pool………………………………………………............113 5.3.3 The Space of Confession…………………………………………………………….......... 119 5.3.4 Encountering Exclusionary Citizenship ……………………….…………………………...124 6. Concluding Remarks……………..………………………………………………………………........138 References…………………………………………………………………………………………........141 Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………………….....165 1 ABSTRACT This thesis is a geographical study of the cultural and political performances of AIDS in Ireland. It takes, in particular, an institutional/ organisational approach to focus on the practices of the state and non-state sector and their interaction with the ‘AIDS’ body through two embodied practices; AIDS Quilting and blood donation. Drawing on a Butlerian conceptualisation of precarity and precariousness, it configures a landscape of HIV/AIDS care provision that is implicated in the production of the precarious body and the precarity of the state. My study of Irish AIDS Quilts explores the practice of AIDS Quilting among voluntary HIV/AIDS organisations that have been operating within a context overshadowed by religious moralization, and shaped by an inequitable geographical distribution of disease. I begin by locating Ireland’s AIDS Quilting projects within the context of Ireland’s HIV voluntary organisations, I then take up three geographical expressions of precarity that we can see communicated in the Quilt; a stigmatising state, a queer diaspora and a precarity of-place. Through an institutional ethnography of interviews with Quilt producers, ethnographic observation of the quilts aesthetic properties, and documentary research, this example demonstrates that Ireland’s attempts to memorialize marginalised collectives is at variance from other cultural contexts with a more visible and arguably more insurgent gay community, such as the United States. My second example focuses on the practice of blood donation in the aftermath of the AIDS crisis and examines how the cultural memory of AIDS continues to affect the institutionalised culture of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, where tactics of governmentality are expressed and experienced spatially with a particular impact on the bodies of non-normative subjects. Overall, the thesis elucidates a complex relationship between the body, state service and voluntary organisation, determining in particular that the state sector above all, continues to be instrumental for inducing precarity on the bodies most affected by the AIDS crisis. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Undertaking this research degree has been an amazing experience, and I see it only as the beginning of future successes to come. Completing it would not have been possible however, without the help and support of the individuals mentioned below, and for this reason, they all deserve recognition. I begin by thanking all the research participants who engaged with this study either directly through interviews, or less formally through organisation meetings, without which, this study, and its findings, simply would not have been possible. It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know all of the people who enriched and informed this study, and who have helped to nourish my curiosity for the AIDS crisis, and passion for justice among the collectives it disproportionately affected. Next, thanks goes to my two Supervisors: Prof Gerry Kearns and Dr Alistair Fraser, who guided me throughout the research process, and kept me going even when I didn’t know where to start! I can still remember fondly, Gerry’s electrifying undergraduate classes which introduced me, as a politics student, to the fascinating world of Geopolitics, and the perspectives that spatial relations could bring to bear on political studies. Gerry’s profound intellect and sense of humour has made him one of the most unforgettable academics that I know. It is fair to say that I would not be half the researcher I am today if it were not for his academic instruction. I am privileged to have been his student, and I only hope that one day I can command an audience, and write with the kind of creativity and conviction, as well as he can. Thank you also to my second Supervisor: Dr Alistair Fraser whose warm encouragement and thoughtful guidance sustained this phase of my personal and professional growth. Alistair has been incredibly encouraging and supportive, particularly so at times when the research process became that little bit more intimidating. His generous guidance and easy-going temperament, has given me the freedom and space to pursue my interests without reservation. I am hugely appreciative to him for sharing his intellect and expertise so willingly, for his patience in allowing me to grow as a researcher, and for being so dedicated to my supervision. Similar gratitude is extended to lecturers within and beyond the wider Geography department. Prof Karen Till’s creative geographical expertise, and desire for social justice has been simply contagious, and I am particularly grateful for all the qualitative methodological insights into this thesis that have enabled me to connect on a deeper level with my community participants. Additionally, Dr Jamie Saris of the Anthropology Department has generously provided office hour time to facilitate my academic ramblings! Professor Mary Corcoran has also continued to be encouraging and helpful to former students of the Sociology Department, no matter what their future academic pursuits. 3 There are other people that I am especially grateful to; Ms Claire McGing has been a mentor and a brilliant friend to me for numerous years now and has always provided me with words of support and encouragement. Claire is also a real inspiration as a leading successful female political geographer, and she will continue to be someone I look up to throughout my academic and professional career. In addition, what Michael Murphy has done is also more than other people will know. Michael has been a total rock of sense and support! Both Michael and his partner Sinead have kept me laughing and smiling throughout this entire thing and have always been just a phone-call away. Likewise, I am grateful to the wider graduate community in the Geography Department, both research and taught MA, all of whom it has been a pleasure to work with, and who have challenged me on my world views both in and outside academia. Other good friends outside Geography; Sarah Larkin; Jason McEvoy; Keara Downey; Migle Adrunaviciute; Mary-Ann Conroy; Jason Fagan; brothers Luke and Mark Flynn who provided ample tea, support and chats! Lastly, I could not have undertaken the programme, nor had the wits to stick it out, if it were not for the support of my family: Anne Marie Cullen, Eugene O’Connell and Lauren O’Connell. As a research student, it’s always nice to know that there is at least one dedicated group of followers interested in my work! You, above all, know how appreciative I am for your unwavering support and encouragement, and for reminding me that there is so much more to life than Geopolitics. It goes without saying that I love you all, and I just hope that I can do you proud when I don that