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Informationen zum Autor Vicki Hutton is an Australia-based writer and academic, specializing in the areas of the human-animal relationship, health psychology, and HIV. Animals have always been an important part of her life, and remain a key focus in her work and family activities. Hutton's recent research project allowed her to combine all areas of interest and create a unique narrative history of the human-animal relationship during the HIV/AIDS-epidemic in Australia and the United States. She currently is a lecturer at an Australian university, and she spends as much time as possible with her many animal companions. Klappentext A Reason toLive explores the human-animal relationship through the narratives of elevenpeople living with HIV and their animal companions. The narratives, based on aseries of interviews with HIV-positive individuals and their animal companions inAustralia, span the entirety of the HIV epidemic, from public awareness anddiscrimination in the 1980s and 1990s to survival and hope in the twenty-firstcentury. Each narrative is explored within the context of theory (for example, attachment theory, the "biophilia hypothesis," neurochemical and neurophysiological effects, laughter, play, death anxiety, and stigma) in order to understand the unique bond between human and animalduring an "epidemic of stigma." A consistent theme is that these animalsprovided their human companions with "a reason to live" throughout theepidemic. Long-term survivors describe past animal companions who intuitivelyunderstood their needs and offered unconditional love and support during thisturbulent period. More recently diagnosed HIV-positive narrators describeanimal companions within the context of hope and the wellness narrative ofliving and aging with HIV in the twenty-first century. Bringing together thesenarratives offers insight into one aspect of the multifaceted HIV epidemic whenhuman turned against human, and helps explain why it was frequently left to theanimals to support their human companions. Importantly, it recognizes theenduring bond between human and animal within the context of theory andnarrative, thus creating a cultural memory in a way that has never been donebefore. Zusammenfassung Explores the human-animal relationship through the narratives of eleven people living with HIV and their animal companions. The narratives, based on a series of interviews with HIV-positive individuals and their animal companions in Australia, span the entirety of the HIV epidemic....
