Devoting Ourselves, Devouring Each Other

Community-based AIDS organizations are now key components in the response to the HIV epidemic in North America. They provide vital AIDS prevention and education and support services to those directly affected by HIV, as well as playing an important advocacy and political role. Despite their many successes, these organizations, like other community organizations, have often been characterized by considerable internal conflict and dispute. This paper draws primarily on interview data from a study of the evolution of 12 AIDS service organizations in Canada. It describes and analyzes some of the tensions and conflicts common in these organizations. The paper ends with a discussion of how to understand this conflicted history, and on the place of anger in community work.