The pasts, presents and futures of AIDS, Norway (1983-1996)

Abstract

This article explores the Norwegian AIDS epidemic from a temporal perspective. It argues that interrogating the epidemic's tempos and rhythms provides useful tools in writing the history of an epidemic by drawing on a wide array of material from its first decade. By using various theories of temporality and chronology, this article maps out three phases of the Norwegian AIDS epidemic. In the first phase (1983-85), the emergence of the first cases of AIDS threw the positive perception of medicine's past into question and fundamentally challenged the notion of incessant medical progress. In the second phase (1985-87), as grim epidemiological prognoses were created and the general population was increasingly targeted, panic grew across Norwegian society. In the third phase (1987-96), as it was slowly realised that the initial prognoses would not materialise, the epidemic faded from the public imagination. With the unremembering of AIDS, HIV was turned into a chronic disease. The article argues that analysing past temporalities, like past pasts and past futures, provides insights into the presents of the past.