'Everything is okay': The influence of neoliberal discourse on the reported experiences of Aboriginal people in Western Australia who are HIV-positive

• Published in: Culture, health & sexuality Vol. 9; no. 6; pp. 571 - 584
• Main Authors: Newman, Christy E., Bonar, Maria, Greville, Heath S., Thompson, Sandra C., Bessarab, Dawn, Kippax, Susan C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Taylor & Francis 01.11.2007
• Subjects: Aboriginal health; Aborigines; Adult; Attitude to Health - ethnology; Australia; Communities; Cultural studies; Discourse; Diseases; Economic liberalism; Female; Health Behavior - ethnology; Health care delivery; Health care industry; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; health service delivery; Health services; HIV; HIV Infections - ethnology; HIV Infections - psychology; Humans; Indigenous populations; Island life; living with HIV; Male; Medical research; Medical sociology; neoliberal discourse; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - ethnology; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - psychology; Political Systems; Research methods; Sexual health; Sexuality; Sexually transmitted diseases; Socioeconomic Factors; Sociology; Sociology of health and medicine; Subjectivity; Surveys and Questionnaires; Truth Disclosure; Western Australia - epidemiology; Australia; Western Australia; Discourse Analysis; Aborigine; AIDS; Health; Neo-liberalism; Collective Conception
• ISSN: 1369-1058; 1464-5351
• DOI: 10.1080/13691050701496913

While Australian Aboriginal conceptions of health have been described as holistic and collective, contemporary approaches to health services and health research are often premised on the rational, reflexive subject of neoliberal discourse. This paper considers how neoliberal conceptions of health and subjectivity arose and were negotiated in the context of a qualitative research project on Aboriginal experiences of HIV in Western Australia. Questions about 'coping', 'future' and 'life changes' stood out in the interview transcripts as examples of neoliberal discourse. This paper explores the reflexive, contextual and deflective responses to these questions and suggests they demonstrate how neoliberal discourse can produce the impression that 'everything is okay' despite the difficult social and economic conditions of everyday life experienced by many Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people with a chronic and serious infectious disease such as HIV may utilise the language of self-management and responsibility when talking about HIV with a non-Aboriginal researcher for pragmatic and utilitarian reasons. In this way, the responses of the Aboriginal participants in this study provide a valuable opportunity for exploring new approaches to both research methodology and health service delivery.