Description
Book SynopsisPresents a comprehensive collection of writings, including essays from the 1980s and 1990s that present an argument about the AIDS epidemic. The author addresses a range of issues, from biomedical discourse and theories of pathogenesis to the mainstream media's depictions of the crisis in both developed and developing countries.
Trade Review“Looking backward and ahead,
How to Have Theory in an Epidemic is nothing short of a handbook of the meanings of AIDS: as human experience, as political reality, as public service action, and, not least of all, as moral engagement with one of the great challenges to meaning-making and unmaking in everyday life.”—Dr. Arthur Kleinman, Harvard University
“Paula Treichler’s essays are certainly among the most significant written on the subject of AIDS. They are, in fact, a model of what the field of cultural studies at its best can contribute to our thinking about urgent social and political issues. This is an essential book, one that will strongly affect the way people approach the subject of AIDS in the future.”—Douglas Crimp, author of
AIDS: Demo Graphics“
How to Have Theory in an Epidemic is a history of histories. . . . Treichler’s accomplishment is without question extremely important and useful. The book and voluminous endnotes cache a vast amount of information and documentation, while the bibliography is a boon to anyone doing serious interdisciplinary work on AIDS. [This] is a major work that scholars and students are likely to consult for many years to come.” -- Patrice Clark Koelsch * Women's Review of Books *
“
How to Have Theory in an Epidemic is one of the most thorough explorations of AIDS and its representations to be published in the last few years.” -- Christopher Voigt * A&U Magazine *
“[
How to Have Theory in an Epidemic’s] significance lies in the cultural lessons that we can learn from this epidemic and increased sensititivity to cultural issues that are ‘far more pervasive and central than we are accustomed to believing.’. . . To the extent that this author demonstrates that medicine is a legitimate and practical topic in cultural studies, the influence of this work will be long-standing.” -- Lisa K. Waldner * JAMA *
“An important new contribution to this young field. . . . Even though it is not a work of historical scholarship,
How to Have Theory in an Epidemic provides much of the insight into events that we might otherwise look for in cultural histories of the HIV epidemic published years from now. The author’s scholarship spans the media, from high art to comic strips. . . . This book is an important addition to the growing literature analyzing illness—and the HIV epidemic—from social and cultural perspectives, and it will be appreciated by many.” -- Allen L. Gifford * New England Journal of Medicine *
“This book is a welcome addition to any syllabus related to medicine; science; the sociology of knowledge; the media; social movements; and gender, race, class, and ethnicity. While each chapter is coherent and could stand alone, readers best experience the magnitude and power through reading the entire contents. Indeed, sociologists, anthropologists, historians, and literary and media critics, as well as epidemiologists and clinicians are fortunate to have such a blessing as Treichler’s extensive research and interpretation of AIDS/HIV.” -- Lisa Jean Moore * American Journal of Sociology *
"
How to Have Theory in an Epidemic makes available in one volume many of [Treichler’s] important essays from the last fifteen years and is invaluable for understanding the collision of discourse. . . . [It] provide[s] crucial insights into what happens when medical discourses on AIDS come into contact with other institutional discourses and other local meanings. . . . Challenging and necessary."
-- Cris Mayo * GLQ *
"Treichler’s study covers an enormous amount of material. . . .
How to Have Theory in an Epidemic makes it plain that the ‘cultural evolution’ of AIDS has not yet managed to move beyond a depressingly familiar terrain of racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and colonialism." -- Sheila McManus * Signs *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix
A Note on the Text xiii
Prologue 1
AIDS, Homophobia, and Biomedical Discourse: An Epidemic of Signification 11
The Burdens of History: Gender and Representation in AIDS Discourse,
1981–1988 42
AIDS and HIV Infection in the Third World: A First World Chronicle 99
Seduced and Terrorized: AIDS in the Media 127
AIDS, HIV, and the Cultural Construction of Reality 149
AIDS Narratives on Television: Whose Story? 176
AIDS, Africa, and Cultural Theory 205
Beyond
Cosmo: AIDS, Identity, and Inscriptions of Gender 235
How to Have Theory in an Epidemic: The Evolution of AIDS, Treatment, and Activism 278
Epilogue 315
Notes 331
Bibliography 387
Index 453
