Of baby ducklings and clay pots: method and metaphor in HIV prevention

In this article, I report on my decision to undertake a process of elicitation, development, and examination of metaphors for experiences of HIV prevention work in Burma/Myanmar. I cover the theoretical basis to that decision, my rationale for using metaphor elicitation as method when researching the rhetoric and practice of HIV prevention in Burma/Myanmar, the process I used, and some of the resultant metaphors. I also demonstrate that this process resulted in the opening up of a space for talking about HIV prevention that avoided recourse to standard prevention rhetoric, thereby enabling a new and deeper understanding of the gap between this rhetoric and people's actual practice or experience.