Love, Money, and HIV Book Review

In her book Love, Money, and HIV: Becoming a Modern African Woman in the Age of AIDS, Sanyu Mojola examines disproportionately high rates of HIV amongst young women in sub-Saharan Africa through an ethnographic study of Luo women in Kenya. Mojola investigates this disparity by taking a life-course approach, which seeks to better understand the process of reaching adulthood. Consumption, understood as the buying of consumer goods, plays a central role in many of these processes. A key expression of this manifests itself in the attempt to satisfy beauty standards. In order to meet those standards, young women buy make up and trendy clothing; however, many must engage in transactional relationships to have the money to buy such goods. These relationships disproportionately expose young women to HIV. As such, by investigating the connection between HIV rates and the consumption practices of young women, Mojola highlights an important factor contributing to the high rates of HIV that they experience. However, the author could have bolstered her analysis by historically contextualizing consumption practices.

As noted, consumption figured heavily in young women’s transition to adulthood, and Mojola presents a convincing argument that it is a contributing factor to disproportionately high rates of HIV/AIDS in the demographic group . The consumption behaviors of these women reflect a desire to meet beauty standards; however, young women often do not have the money to buy things like clothing or make up. As a result, young women often engage in relationships with men who are able to give them money. The men in these relationships are often older, as older men are more likely to have enough money for transactional relationships. Unfortunately, older men exhibit high rates of HIV. Therefore, women who are in these relationships drastically increase their risk of contracting the virus. In this way, Mojola effectively connects consumption to higher HIV rates amongst young women. Without the resources to consume the products they desire, young women often navigate relationships with older men, which simultaneously satisfies their consumption behavior and disproportionately exposes them to HIV.

However, the author does not thoroughly deconstruct the historical roots of consumption beyond a discussion of the introduction of money during the colonial period. Consumption, particularly consumption as a means of identity formation, should be understood as a legacy of the British colonial regime. The living and beauty standards that fuel young women’s consumption reflect a specific notion of modernity, which has its roots in British colonialism. In pursuit of fulfilling the image of a modern young women, women engage in transactional relationships to receive the money necessary to buy things like fashionable clothing. As these relationships heighten the risk of contracting HIV, a connection exists between colonial legacies of modernity, consumption, and high rates of HIV amongst young women. Furthermore, British colonialism shaped the context in which this consumption is happening. By disrupting local economies and establishing destructive power hierarchies, colonialists set the foundation for underdevelopment and contributed to the resource-poor environment these young women negotiate . The poverty that results from these conditions ultimately leads many young women to have transactional relationships to meet certain needs. In other words, British colonialism contributed to the poor contemporary economic conditions that encourage high-risk transactional relationships. While Mojola expertly charts the relationship between consumption and HIV rates amongst women, she could have added a layer of depth to her analysis by further investigating how colonial history shapes that relationship. Mojola’s study offers a number of important insights, with the connection between consumption and HIV rates being a central one. For policy practitioners working in this field, such a finding is crucial. Having a more nuanced understanding of these disproportionately high HIV rates will allow policymakers to respond with similarly nuanced approaches.

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