Remaking the Technosubject

Kenyan Men Contextualizing HIV Self-Testing Technologies

Bibliographic Data

ID4864254
AuthorsMatthew Thomann (0000-0003-0754-3254, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA, corresponding author), Bernadette Kombo (0000-0003-1808-4356, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada), Helgar Musyoki (0000-0002-0972-6065, Ministry of Health, Nairobi, Kenya), Kennedy Masinya (Men Against AIDS Youth Group, Kisumu, Kenya), Samuel Kuria (Minority Person’s Empowerment Program, Thika, Kenya), Martin Kyana (HIV & AIDS People’s Alliance of Kenya, Mombasa, Kenya), Janet Musimbi (0000-0001-7071-3063, Partners for Health and Development in Africa, Nairobi, Kenya), Lisa Lazarus (0000-0002-7673-4671, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada), Jenny Blanchard (0000-0002-4701-590X, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada), Parinita Bhattacharjee (0000-0003-3277-7693, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada), Robert Lorway (0000-0001-6923-8832, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada)
Year2022
Volume41
Issue3
Pages272-286
Publication date2022-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMedical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0145-9740 • E-ISSN: 1545-5882
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01459740.2022.2027405
PMID35129411
OpenAlexW4210895935
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited52

The Kenyan government offers free HIV self-testing kits to men who have sex with men. The value of self-testing is based on the imaginary of an autonomous technosubject empowered to independently control testing services, thereby "freed," through technology, from the social conditions that might inhibit health services utilization. Following a community-centered collaborative approach, community researchers interviewed their peers who examined and reacted to the technology. Participants reframed the technosubject as intertwined with the social world and the testing kit itself as an object that exerts agency and possesses affective potential. Attending to these socio-material relationalities offers insights into program planning

Agency (philosophy · Family medicine · Government (linguistics · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV · Kenya · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Computer Science · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions · Medicine · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Social Psychology