Forget Burial: HIV Kinship, Disability, and Queer/Trans Narratives of Care

by Marty Fink

Finalist for the LGBTQ Nonfiction Award from Lambda Literary

Queers and trans people in the 1980s and early ‘90s were dying of AIDS and the government failed to care. Lovers, strangers, artists, and community activists came together take care of each other in the face of state violence. In revisiting these histories alongside ongoing queer and trans movements, this book uncovers how early HIV care-giving narratives actually shape how we continue to understand our genders and our disabilities. The queer and trans care-giving kinships that formed in response to HIV continue to inspire how we have sex and build chosen families in the present. In unearthing HIV community newsletters, media, zines, porn, literature, and even vampires, Forget Burial bridges early HIV care-giving activisms with contemporary disability movements. In refusing to bury the legacies of long-term survivors and of those we have lost, this book brings early HIV kinships together with ongoing movements for queer and trans body self-determination.
 

Genres: Queer, Disability, Nonfiction, LGBT, Transgender, History, Academic

214 pages, Hardcover

First published November 13, 2020

Reviews

[Ashton]

i picked this up for research regarding the section on zines, but ended up wanting to read the whole thing, and i’m glad i did! this isn’t light reading, but it’s not difficult to understand even though it’s largely lit/film analysis. so many valuable observations and discussions in here!! i was especially delighted by the section on vampires (i had just read fledgling when i started reading this) and the bits on zines.

[juno]

as a queer person studying a health degree i found this to be very relevant and insightful, particularly around ideas of institutionalised care roles and challenging ideas of power dynamics in "client/caregiver" relationships through mutual care + vulnerability. super interesting to think about in comparison to current discussions in health education re professionalism + therapeutic use of self. fink's writing is dense with references but still rlly quite accessible and easily readable. especially liked chapter 3 (chosen families) and 4 (the gift of dykes).

also , archiving is so vital !

[Sarah Schulman]

I had the pleasure of working with Marty on their thesis, and am privileged to be included in their book, surrounded by my actual and appropriate community of thinkers and artists. A personal joy.

[Ai Miller]

Good luck to the kids.

[Chidi]

Amazing slim book talking about Disability, Care Work, Kinship and the Archive in the 80/90’s era of HIV/AIDS epidemic and how we have so much to learn by bringing this living past into the present today.

The artwork and analysis in this book is beautiful and I really recommend even if it times a bit dense.