Seeing Through Dreams: On the Efficacy of Antiretroviral Drugs in the South African Lowveld

In Bushbuckridge, South Africa, persons receiving Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment (HAART) for AIDS often recounted their experiences of vivid, frightening dreams. Drawing on the results of long-term fieldwork and on biographical interviews, I explore the meanings of these dreams in local discourses. Contrary to the biomedical fraternity, which depicted such dreams as a simple biochemical side-effect of the compound Efavirenz, research participants represented them as integral to the working of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). Through narrating the content of such dreams, research participants were able to broach topics and concerns otherwise suppressed from social intercourse. These included social isolation, exposure to extreme danger and death, and hopes of recovery. Moreover, users claimed that ARV-induced dreams aided their recovery, hardened them against misfortune and provided glimpses into transcendent realms. I show how gendered experiences, fears and aspirations were important subtexts to the narration of ARV dreams.