title: The self as capital in the narrative economy: how biographical testimonies move activism in the Global South.
abstract: This article analyses and theorises the practice of biographical storytelling of HIV-positive AIDS activists in South Africa. Combining research in illness narratives, studies of emotions in social activism and analysis of global health institutions in Africa, I explore how biographical self-narrations are deployed to facilitate access to resources and knowledge and thus acquire material and symbolic value. I illustrate my argument through the analysis of the case of an AIDS activist who became a professional biographical storyteller. Based on the analysis which I claim to represent wider dynamics in human-rights-based health activism in the Global South, I propose the concept of narrative economies by which I mean the set of exchange relationships within which biographical self-narrations circulate and produce social value for individuals and organisations.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Marian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burchardt
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000523:psychology; D001680:Biographies as Topic; D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D033262:Narration; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013019:South Africa
keywords: Africa; HIV/AIDS; biographical research; economy; human rights; illness narratives