The state, public policy, and AIDS discourse (original) (raw)

Social constructions of HIV/AIDS: theory and policy implications

Health Sociology Review, 1996

This paper considers five different social constructions of HN and AIDS. In a medical nwdel, science describes HN scientifically and in the body, in terms of a compromised immune system, opportunistic infections, treatment and care. An epidemic model identifies risk behaviours and transmission routes, informing health education and disease prevention. Organizational conceptions of AIDS developed by large interests, particularly hospitals, according to economic, administrative, and health concerns. Social constructions of AIDS as plague or punishment against society are advanced by moralists who equate HIV with taboo social and sexual behaviour, Political constructions of AIDS, highlight public health in the face of obstacles to treatment and the delivery of services to people living with HN. Political and moral constructs are at odds over AIDS as a form ofsocial stigma, magnifying many forms of prejudice and discrimination. Each construct is supported by an institutional authority, framing the problems and responses to HIV and AIDS, the dominant metaphors and symbols, and the most pressing questions and uncertainties.

Discourses on AIDS and Sexuality

2000

Funded by a modest fund by the Ford Foundation, the research was conducted in 2000 and was published as a book, in Bengali. This is a translation of the report done by Sameera Huq in 2001. This research explored how the era of AIDS, with all the discourses revolved it and sexuality, tend to re-endorse sexual morals. Sexuality has long been an area of governance by state-authorities, and especially among the middle-class people. With special reference to Bangladeshi situation, this research also looked into the transnational agencies that worked around AIDS. Far from dogmatic understanding of medical anthropology, this research should be considered as a pioneer research in sexuality and public health that provided critical insight not only in local 'situations', but also at global 'actors'.

Introduction: Politics as a Cause and Consequence of the AIDS Pandemic

Perspectives on Politics, 2006

Today, more than 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, and well over 20 million more have died since the first case was diagnosed in 1981. When we include families and loved ones in the raw demographics, HIV/AIDS has touched a population at least equal to that of the United States. This collection of essays examines the complexity of the mobilization against HIV/AIDS, from the perspective of social action on one hand and the state on the other. We thank Andrea Densham, Jeff Edwards, and the anonymous reviewers for their dedication and critical engagement. We also extend our gratitude to those AIDS activists and their friends and loved ones whose open participation makes research of this kind possible.

[C._Waldby]_AIDS_and_the_Body_Politic_Biomedicine.pdf

In this masterful study, Waldby offers crucial new insights into the relationships between biomedical discourses, the sexual politics of citizenship, macro-and micro-bodies and the processes of normalisation. This challenging and thought-provoking work is essential reading for anyone interested in biopolitics, sexual difference, queer theory and critiques of science.

Interchange: HIV/AIDS and U.S. History

Journal of American History

Interchange: hiv/aids and U.S. History Emerging in the 1980s, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (aids) ravaged minori-tized communities across the country and in the process transformed the United States. In this " Interchange, " the writers focus primarily on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (lgbtq) communities and communities of color, groups that make up the majority of people living with human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) in the United States, as a way to explore social, cultural, and political battles over recognizing the significance of aids and for access to treatment and prevention. The epidemic, and those affected by it, transformed public discussion of sexuality and race, poverty, and public health. But despite those radical changes, hiv/aids has rarely been included in the history of the post-1960s era. Working with Jennifer Brier, the JAH brought together nine scholars to discuss how the history of hiv/aids intersects with the history of the United States. Participants engaged in a far-ranging conversation that interweaves histories of sexuality, race, gender, medicine, social activism, and media, and explores how hiv/aids has been addressed, and ignored, in historical scholarship of the late twentieth century. As the first feature-length piece dedicated to the history of hiv/aids published by the Journal, this " Interchange " is able to delve deeply into many critical aspects of the history of hiv/aids but misses many others. The JAH and all the contributors hope this piece sparks and sustains new historical research across the many axes of the field of U.S. history. The JAH is indebted to all of the participants for sharing their thoughts on this subject.

Construction and transformation of social representations of AIDS and implications for health care

Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, 2013

OBJECTIVES: to analyze the process of the constitution and evolution of social representations and practices referent to aids, based on studies carried out in the last eleven years among health professionals. METHOD: a comparison of representational structures of aids in different decades was undertaken, accompanied by a study of the silent zone, involving health professionals. Data collection and analysis included techniques of free association, structural analysis, and study of the silent zone. RESULTS: the existence of a process of change was observed in the social representations of aids, with the introduction of the possibility of co-existence with the disease and the reduction of the importance of death. CONCLUSIONS: this process is presented as the result of a complex movement of symbolic constructions arising from human interactions, contributing to knowledge of ways of thinking associated with the syndrome and to professional practices in healthcare.

AIDS activism

in The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and political Movements edited by David A. Snow, Donatella Della Porta, Bert Klandermans, Doug McAdam, Oxford, John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Politics behind Aids policies: case studies from India, Russia and South Africa

1998

Im Kampf gegen die Aids-Pandemie und ihre zahlreichen Sub-Epidemien wird auch für die absehbare Zukunft die Verhütung neuer HIV-Infektionen, also die Primärprävention die wichtigste Rolle spielen. Gestützt auf theoretische Modelle aus der Sozialpsychologie, der Sexualwissenschaft und des sozialen Lernens hat sich in den letzten fünfzehn Jahren weltweit ein Konsens über Methoden herausgebildet, mit denen die dazu notwendigen Änderungen des Verhaltens im Bereich der Sexualität und des i.v. Drogengebrauchs unterstützt und bewirkt werden können. Solche Interventionen folgen dem Ansatz der Ottawa Charta der WHO zur Gesundheitsförderung (1986). Sie sind weltweit in unterschiedlichen Kulturen, Schichten und Zielgruppen erfolgreich. Größere Schwierigkeiten als der Entwurf geeigneter Maßnahmen, Anreize und Infrastrukturen für primäre HIV-Infektion (policies) bereitet die Überwindung von politischen, kulturellen, ökonomischen und organisatorischen Hindernissen (politics), die diesem Ansatz entgegenstehen. Die vorliegende Veröffentlichung vereinigt Fallstudien zu Aids politics aus Indien, Rußland und der Republik Südafrika. In Südafrika wird die Implementation einer bereits formulierten policy v.a. durch die gleichzeitig stattfindende Ablösung vom Apartheidregime und die dadurch ausgelösten Transitionen im Institutionengefüge behindert. Nachdem die Aids-Epidemie nicht mehr einfach geleugnet wird, liegen die wichtigsten Hemmnisse in Indien in der Tabuisierung der Kommunikation über Sexualität sowie der umfassenden Unterdrückung der Frauen. In Rußland schließlich verhindert derzeit eine politisch außerordentlich heterogene Koalition die Schaffung elementarer Voraussetzungen von Aids-Prävention, wie z.B. die Einführung von Sexualaufklärung. Alle drei Fallstudien enthalten neben der Analyse von Hindernissen auch Hinweise zur Überwindung derzeitiger Defizite sowie auf weiteren Forschungsbedarf. Die hier veröffentlichten Beiträge wurden zuerst am 29. Juni 1998 in Genf auf der 12. Welt Aids Konferenz "Bridging the Gap", Grand Round Session "Politics behind Aids Policies" (D 15) vorgetragen.