Inquiries in the Social and Behavioral Sciences:

The Anthropology of AIDS and STDs

Honors 203/Section 003-19210

2/10/2001

 

 

Instructor:  Karen A. Kroeger, Ph.D.              

Course Time: Monday  1:00--3:30

Location: Honors College, Jefferson Room 

 

Office Hours: after class or by appointment

Location: Honors College, Room 20

Email: kkroeger@im.wustl.edu

Phone: (314) 362-3721 (office)

 

Course Description and Objectives:

 

The goal of this course will be to look at AIDS (and other sexually transmitted diseases more generally) as a social and cultural issue. The course will incorporate both micro and macro perspectives on AIDS and is intended to bring to bear anthropological theory, history and political economy in order to provide students with a broader context for understanding AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. For instance, macro perspectives include consideration of the social construction of AIDS and STDs; the political economy of AIDS, particularly in marginalized populations; and historical perspectives on the relationship between the state, regulation of sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases. We will also examine micro perspectives on AIDS by looking at, for example, the cultural analysis of risk (and the limitations of behavioral and epidemiological models of risk), and the social meaning and experience of disease, illness, and stigma.

 

The books listed below will constitute the core material for this course. There will be additional required readings in the form of journal articles and occasional newspaper materials; these copies will be provided or will be put on reserve in the UMSL library as we need them. The attached schedule and reading list provide the basic structure of the course and most of the reading assignments; other articles may be added as deemed necessary.

 

REQUIRED BOOKS:

 

1.         Brandt, Allan M.  No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal DiseaseOxford            1987

2.         Farmer, Paul   AIDS and Accusation: Haiti and the Geography of Blame Univ. of California            1993    

3.         White, Renee T.  Putting Risk in Perspective: Black Teenage Lives in the Era of AIDS            Rowman and Littlefield            1999

4.         Renaud, Michelle   Women at the Crossroads: A Prostitute Community’s Response to AIDS in Urban Senegal            Gordon and Breach 1997

5.            Lyttleton, Chris            Endangered Relations: Negotiating Sex and AIDS in Thailand

Gordon and Breach 2000

6.             Green, Gill & Sobo, E.J. The Endangered Self: Managing the Social Risk of HIV

Routledge 2000

 

RECOMMENDED BOOKS:

7.            Treichler, Paula How to Have Theory in an Epidemic: Cultural Chronicles of AIDS    

Duke University Press            1999  (The book is also an excellent source for other published materials on AIDS--notes and bibliography constitute a full 120 pages at the end of the volume.)

 

 

 

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:

 

Class format: The format of this class is primarily discussion with some lectures and presentation of other materials. Your completion of reading assignments, attendance, and participation are essential in order to keep the level of discussion meaningful and will be considered as part of your grade. You will also be asked to contribute to the discussion by generating questions on the reading from time to time. In addition, there may be other short, impromptu in-class exercises and assignments. You will also have three take-home writing assignments during the semester.

 

Evaluation: Your final grade will be based on the following:

 

Attendance/participation: 10%

Short papers (2, 5-6 pages each) 40%

Final paper (10-12 pages): 50%

 

Attendance and participation: In addition to regular attendance, completion of reading assignments, and participation, students will be asked periodically to turn in 2-4 questions on the week’s readings. In addition, there may be occasional in-class exercises and assignments.

 

Short papers: There will be two short papers (5-6 pages) due during the course of the semester. These papers are intended to assess your understanding of the readings and materials presented in class. Questions will be provided one week in advance and will be due the next class session. Late papers will not be accepted.

 

Final paper: A final paper (10-12 page) will be due the last day of class.  The topic may be of your own choosing but must be on some aspect of HIV/AIDS or STDs and should draw on and reflect upon themes we have discussed in class. That is, as the course is providing a framework for thinking about sexually transmitted infections as social and cultural phenomena, your paper should reflect your understanding of this framework. YOUR PAPER TOPIC MUST BE PRE-APPROVED. You must use sources (books, journal articles, newspaper articles) and cite all sources using AAA (American Anthropological Association) format. (For those who are not anthropology majors, this is a fairly straightforward and easy format to follow.) We will talk more about the papers as time goes on.

 

All papers must be double spaced, 10-12 point type, and printed out via legible computer printer. Reasonable standards for spelling, sentence construction, and comprehensible flow of ideas will be considered in the final paper grade. Faxed or emailed or late papers will not be accepted.

 

A word about the web: There are many excellent web sites devoted to AIDS and STDS and I will provide you with a list of some of these. I suggest you start early and explore sites that might provide background information or that might help you choose your paper topic.  However, while you are encouraged to use web sites to research and explore your paper topic, using web sites exclusively for this paper is not acceptable. Also, you are advised to exercise caution—while many sites are very good, others may be full of shoddy or incorrect information.

 

Communication: Students should report to the Dean of the Honors College any communication problems they experience with the instructor.

 

Revision of syllabus: This course syllabus and schedule are subject to revision at the discretion of the course instructor.

 

Topics                                                                          Reading Assignments Due

Week 1  January 22   Course introduction and overview   Brief overview of AIDS/STDs Why the “Hidden Epidemic” of STDs?	In class:     Sanders and Reinisch article: “Would you say you “had sex” if…..?”
Week 2 January 29   Medical anthropology and public health   The Social Construction of AIDS and STDs	No Magic Bullet, Intro & Chapter 1&2,  pp. 1-92   Treichler article: “AIDS, HIV, and the Cultural Construction of Reality” pp.149-175
Week 3  February 5   Social and behavioral determinants of  the epidemiology of STDs.	No Magic Bullet, pp.122-204 (skip Chapter 3 but you might want to look at the illustrations of public health campaigns against VD.)   View documentary: “The Lost Children of Rockdale County”
Week 4  February 12     Critical medical anthropology and the political economy of AIDS	Singer article: “Forging a Political Economy of AIDS” pp.3-31   AIDS and Accusation  pp.1-59
Week 5 February 19     Critical medical anthropology and the political economy of AIDS	AIDS and Accusation  pp.60-150
Week 6 February 26   AIDS and Tuberculosis	AIDS and Accusation  pp.150-263
Week 7  March 5   Risk: Examining Behavioral, Social and Epidemiological Models of Risk	Articles: (Kane and Mason) “IV Drug Users and Sex Partners: The Limits of Epidemiological Categories and the Ethnography of Risk” pp.199-221 (Balshem et al) “Syphilis, Sex and Crack Cocaine: Images of Risk and Morality pp.147-160 (Lupton) “Risk as Moral Danger:The Social and Political Functions of Risk Discourse in Public Health” pp.425-435
Week 8  March 12   Gender and sexuality/women and AIDS risk   Guest speaker: Joan Ferguson, Outreach worker with BABAA (Blacks Assisting Blacks Against AIDS)	Putting Risk in Perspective pp.1-74
Week 9  March 19   Gender and sexuality/Women and AIDS risk	Putting Risk in Perspective  75-157   Whitehead article: “Urban Low-Income African American Men, HIV/AIDS and Gender Identity”  pp. 411-447
Week 10  March 26	Spring Break 3/26-30
Week 11  April 2   Conducting fieldwork on AIDS/STDs	Women at the Crossroads pp.1-165
Week 12  April 9   Disease/illness/stigma and the social experience of AIDS and STDs	The Endangered Self   Inhorn article: “Genital Herpes: An inquiry into being Discreditable in American Society”
Week 13  April 16	The Endangered Self   Pliskin “Verbal Intercourse and Sexual Communication”pp.89-109
Week 14  April 23   Sexual and social networks in STD research	Toomey and Rothenberg: “Sex and Cyberspace: Virtual Networks Leading to High Risk Sex” Rothenberg and Narramore “The Relevance of Social Network Concepts to Sexually Transmitted Disease Control”
Week 15  April 30   AIDS Programming: the state, sexuality and AIDs	Endangered Relations   View documentary: “AIDS-the Global Pandemic.”(segment on Thailand)
Week 16  May 7   Course Wrap up and evaluation	Endangered Relations