Moral Adherence: HIV Treatment, Undetectability, and Stigmatized Viral Loads among Haitians in South Florida

In the United States, HIV is rendered a chronic condition, and viral transmission is minimized through strict adherence to pharmaceutical treatment. Treatment reduces viral loads to untraceable levels in the blood, a status known as "undetectable," as determined by laboratory testing. For Haitians living with HIV in South Florida, "undetectable" has become more than a viral status; it is a means to know and govern themselves as moral actors and to survey and stigmatize others who remain "detectable." The ethnographic evidence I present here suggests that Haitians adopt novel forms of subjectivity based on undetectability, producing identities entangled in biotechnical categorizations and dominant narratives of responsibility, morality, and health. Haitians' experiences with these processes reveal the persistence of HIV stigmatization and the centrality of biomedical morality in mediating perceptions of inclusion, value, and worth of people living with HIV.