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Volume 35, Numbers 1 and 2, March and September - Special
Issue on
Women, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Sponsored by UNESCO, New Delhi. |
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Anthropology
and the Crisis of AIDS: Competing Perspectives
Nita Mathur
Much of the discussion on anthropology in the context of AIDS
situates it in local cultures (see Preston-Whyte, 1981; Schoepf,
1990, 1992). Several studies center around conditions under
which the infection spreads and ways and means of dealing with
infected patients in specific cultures. The focus here is on the
issues of poverty, migration, sexual negotiations, and risks of
HIV transmission. While these studies emphasize the local
context, a large number of them make generalizations in a global
framework that raise theoretical and methodological concerns and
question the preparedness of the discipline of anthropology in
coping with AIDS. Two competing perspectives emerge, the first
that asserts that the discipline is theoretically and
methodologically equipped to deal with the crisis of AIDS, and
the second that challenges the claim. The present essay brings
both the perspectives to the fore and explores how local
manifestation of AIDS may be juxtaposed with the global spread
meaningfully.
Key Words: HIV epidemic, HIV/AIDS patients’ rights,
Global spread, Marginalized, Cultural strategies. |
