CFP: Reactions to HIV/AIDS since the 1980s: Transnational and comparative history perspectives

Nikolaos Papadogiannis and Rachel Love are seeking submissions for the upcoming conference titled “Reactions to HIV/AIDS Since the 1980s: Transnational and Comparative History Perspectives,” to be held in a hybrid format at the University of St. Andrews from August 30-31, 2022. Submissions are due by February 15, 2022.

This conference aims to help promote research on the social, cultural, political, and financial implications of HIV/AIDS across the globe from a transnational and comparative perspective. The organizers welcome proposals that take a transnational and comparative perspective.

Proposed papers may explore different contexts across the globe since the 1980s, especially regions in the ‘periphery’ of Europe and beyond the ‘West’. Papers that attend to representational diversity in social class, gender, sexual orientation, age and ‘race’ are particularly welcome. Proposals may touch upon at least one of the following subjects and themes:

Subjects

• Civil society organisations and activists. The latter may include subjects who did not necessarily label themselves as ‘AIDS activists’ but still dealt with its social and political impact. Such subjects may include, but not be limited to, sex workers and/or LGBTQI individuals.
• State institutions and policymakers.
• Subjects dealing with health and healthcare, such as social workers, nurses, doctors, and discourses.
• Migrant associations.
• Religious subjects.
• Communities of artists. Filmmakers.
• Journalists, authors, publishers.

Themes

• Discourses about the rights of people living with AIDS.
• Shifting sexual norms and patterns.
• Policy instruments and their negotiation and contestation.
• Protest patterns of AIDS activists.
• Mobilities and migration.
• Structures and ideologies of NGOs and activist organizations addressing people living with AIDS.
• Healthcare structures addressing people living with AIDS.
• Artistic representations of HIV/AIDS.
• Medical representations of HIV/AIDS. Biomedical technologies and people living with AIDS.
• Memory, testimony, and silences of living with AIDS and emotions surrounding them.

Papers based on interdisciplinary approaches are welcome, as are abstracts from scholars at all stages of their academic careers, from graduate students to emeritus faculty, as well as independent scholars and people working in associated fields.

The conference is expected to take place both in-person and online. Accommodation costs will be covered, and there will be no conference fee. Some travel costs may be reimbursed as well.

All proposals should be submitted electronically by 15 February 2022 to [email protected]. Applicants should include a 300-word abstract in English and a 2-page CV.

Contact the organizers with any questions at [email protected] or [email protected].