Puerto Rican Community Mobilizing in Response to the AIDS Crisis

Considerable attention has been focused on the collective response of the gay community to the spread of AIDS. Less is known about how other communities, especially those that have disproportionately high rates of HIV infection, have mobilized in response to the epidemic. Focusing on the work of a community based organization in Hartford, CT—the Hispanic Health Council—this paper examines the evolution of Puerto Rican organizational efforts to develop culturally appropriate prevention, education, and related programs on AIDS. The paper explores a set of factors that inhibited minority organizations generally in mobilizing effectively around the AIDS crisis, as well as a countervailing set of factors that propelled the organization in question to both respond early to the AIDS crisis and ultimately to develop a multi-faceted program to stem the tide of the epidemic in the local Latino community. Special attention is given to the role of anthropology and anthropologists in shaping the response of the Hispanic Health Council to the diffusion of HIV infection in Hartford's Puerto Rican population.