Since the start of the epidemic in the 1980s, thousands of men have died of the complications of hiv/aids and many more are currently living with the disease. Their stories have been collected by many institutions, not all of which are available to the public. But the overall impact of the epidemic on Dutch society as a whole remains ill-understood. Through studying historiography, activism, governance, and cultural products from the 1980s to the present, this project aims to tell the story of hiv/aids in the Netherlands in all its diversity.

In 2031, it is fifty years ago that hiv/aids was named and thus got a public face. It is also a year after the United Nations hope to end the pandemic. Hiv/aids may have ceased to be the deadly disease it once was in the Netherlands, its traces are still many and deep. Thousands of men, especially in the beginning phases mostly gay men, have died, and man families and friend groups have been scarred because of it. What is their story? And how these stories together create a pluriform, richly tapestried story of hiv/aids in the Netherlands?

This project connects to the work done by House of Hiv, which in August-September 2021 hosted an exhibition in eight parts in the Netherlands. Connecting IHLIA, the Black Queer Archives, and the Prostitution Information Center, among others, the exhibition connected various communities affected by hiv/aids and showcased their stories. We aim to tell the story of hiv/aids in the Netherlands as inclusively as possible, paying attention to people of all sexual orientations, white people and people of colour, groups that are stereotypically associated with hiv/aids (such as gay men and certain types of drug users) and groups who are less commonly thought of (such as trans*people and sex workers). We also want to tell the stories of people who live with hiv/aids, people who lost loved ones and people who have dealt professionally with the disease or continue to do so. Only with attention to this diversity can the history of hiv/aids be comprehensively told.

This project is a collaboration between researchers of the Amsterdam School for Regional, Transnational and European Studies (ARTES) and the Amsterdam School of Historical Studies (ASH).

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