Courses Designed to Meet General Education Requirements

Social Science

Sex, Health, and AIDS
Spring 1999
Professor Susan Craddock and Dr. Sally Stevens
The University of Arizona

HIV/AIDS has been a recognized phenomenon now for almost twenty years. Its impact continues to be widespread and profound, raising a number of important questions at various levels of analysis. Has sex changed in the 90s? Have concerns about health and personal safety shifted for college students today? How has AIDS impacted the way we see ourselves and others? How has it changed our vision of other countries? This course will offer explorations of HIV and AIDS from a variety of perspectives, including its biology and pathology, its impact on communication and sexual practices among college students, the social and economic causes of HIV/AIDS in the United States and elsewhere in the world, and the politics of medical research and health care funding.

Other than disseminating information, the purpose of the course is to challenge commonly held perceptions about the origins, causes, and social constructions of AIDS; to examine the reasons why people might not change behaviors that put them at a health risk; and to tackle the difficulties of policy formation and community action. As such, the class offers a forum for developing critical thinking and problem solving skills through the reading material, class discussions, numerous short writing assignments, workshops, and role-playing exercises.

Course structure: The course is designed with a Monday and Wednesday lecture and a Friday workshop. Lectures will actually be constituted largely by class discussion of reading materials and writing assignments, and the workshops will offer a variety of exercises geared toward group problem solving, critical analysis, and the discussion of issues extending from those addressed in the Monday and Wednesday reading materials.

Attendance: This course is set up to elicit as much student participation as possible. The degree to which it works depends on how much you work. Attendance is obviously a key element of being able to participate actively, and is required. More than three unexplained absences will result in a ten percent reduction of your grade.

Grade breakdown:

Midterms		15% x 2 = 30%
Final		30%
Writing Assignments		5% x 5 = 25%
Poster		10%
Participation		5%

All Students: Three of the five writing assignments and the first midterm occur in the first half of the course. These will allow you to have a good assessment of your progress in the course before the drop deadline.

The midterms and final exam will consist primarily of short answer questions and one to two longer essay questions requiring synthesis of reading materials and your own critical analysis of the topics under review.

All writing assignments, including midterms and finals, will be graded according to the degree to which you have been able to synthesize and incorporate assigned reading materials (where appropriate), to present these in a thoughtful and cohesive manner, and to articulate your own critical assessments of the topics at hand. Thus not only content but writing style and cohesiveness will be assessed.

Honors Students: Two writing assignments will be required of you that ask you to assess to a greater degree the debates characterizing particular areas of the HIV/AIDS arena. These assignments will come in place of two of the regular writing assignments. They will constitute two five-page papers in which you will write reactions to two of the key issues discussed in class; these issues will be of your choosing in consultation with the professor(s). These papers will involve reading at least two extra articles on the subject you choose, and writing a cohesive essay summarizing the arguments contained in the reading and your own well-thought out reaction to these arguments. Discussing your ideas and research progress with the professors is encouraged.

I. Introduction

Jan 13, Wed.
1. Overview of course

Readings: R. Keeling, M.D., "HIV and Higher education: From isolation to engagement," in Liberal Education; AAC&U Special Reprint on Higher Education and Health, 1996;

K. Douglas et al "Results from the 1995 national college health risk behavior survey," in Journal of American College Health.46, 1997:55-66

Jan 15, Fri.
1. Questionnaire: Knowledge, Behavior, Perception.
2. Personal Ranking: How do you rank HIV among other health and life issues?

Jan 18, Mon: No Class - Martin Luther King Holiday
II. History of the Epidemic

Jan 20, Wed
1. Global overview (with maps, statistics, graphs), and demographics of HIV/AIDS in U.S. (who has AIDS, how are statistics gathered, etc.)

Readings: Bondaart, "Overview of the AIDS Epidemic"

Writing Assignment: How has the HIV epidemic affected you or someone you know: how has it changed your behavior, if any; how has it changed the way you see others? Due Monday.

Jan 22, Fri
1. Take a stance on the following issue(s): All homosexuals should be tested for HIV. AIDS originated in Africa. Discussion will follow.

Jan 25, Mon
1. Origins theories

Readings: Rosalind Harrison-Chirumuuta and Richard Chirumuuta, "AIDS from Africa: A case of racism vs. science?" in G. Bond, J. Kreniske, I. Susser, and J. Vincent, AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean, Westview 1997:165-180;

J. Phillipe Rushton, "Population Differences in Susceptibility to AIDS: An Evolutionary Analysis," Social Science and Medicine 28:12, 1989:1211-1220.

Jan 27, Wed
1. Origins, cont'd: the politics of origins--theories in the U.S. and globally.

Readings: Randall Packard and Paul Epstein, "Medical research on AIDS in Africa: a Historical perspective," in E. Fee and D. Fox, eds., AIDS: The Making of a Chronic Disease., University of California 1992:346-376.

Writing Assignment: Go to the red notebook containing listserv summaries of articles on HIV and AIDS. Choose one entry, go to the library and find the article, read it and write a summary and opinion. Due Wednesday.

Jan 29, Fri
1. Film: History of AIDS epidemic
III. Biological Aspects

Feb 1, Mon
1. Definition of the virus and its pathology. Guest speaker

Feb 3, Wed (Sally Stevens)
1. Biological aspects of HIV/AIDS, cont'd. Transmission of HIV: a) blood-to-blood; b) sexual transmission; c) mother to fetus transfer.

Readings: Sally Stevens, "The Sexual transmission of HIV;" (unpublished manuscript);

Stephen Koester, "The process of drug injection," in T. Rhodes and R. Hartnoll, eds., AIDS, Drugs and Prevention: Perspectives on Individual and Community Action, Routledge 1996.

Feb 5, Fri
1. Slide show: Sexually transmitted diseases.
IV. Communication (Guest speaker: Lee Ann Hamilton, Student Health)

Feb 8, Mon
1. Communication at the personal level; communicating about sex.

Readings: Hortensia Amaro, "Love, sex, and power: considering women's realities in HIV prevention," in American Psychologist, June 1995:437-447.

Feb 10, Wed
1. The norms of communication on campus - alcohol, drugs, and sex.

Reading: Deborah Cohen and Linda Lederman, "Navigating the freedoms of college life: Students talk about alcohol, gender, and sex," in N. Roth and L. Fuller, eds., Women and AIDS, The Harrington Park Press 1998:101-127.

Feb 12, Fri
1. Role playing (Lee Ann)
2. Film: No Such Love

Feb 15, Mon
1. Safe Sex (Lee Ann, guest lecturer)

Readings: TBA
V. Representation

Feb 17, Wed
1. AIDS in the media: what does reporting cover? what does it miss? how does it frame the issues surrounding HIV and AIDS?

Readings: Stephen Klaidman, "How well the media report health risk" T. Cook and D. Colby, "The mass-mediated epidemic: the politics of AIDS on the nightly network news," Fee and Fox, AIDS: The Making of a Chronic Disease, University of California 1992:84-122.

Writing assignment: Come in to class on Friday with a newspaper or other media depiction of HIV, AIDS, or related issues. Write two to three pages on, and be prepared to discuss the following: its interpretive framework, the questions its asks, the questions it does not ask, its influence in your opinion on public thinking about sex, HIV, homosexuality, ethnicity, etc.

Feb 19, Fri
1. Discussion of newspaper articles.

Feb 22, Mon
1. Sexuality, deviancy, and the politics of AIDS representation

Readings: Meyrick Horton with Peter Aggleton, "Perverts, inverts, and experts: The cultural production of an AIDS paradigm," in AIDS: Social Representations, Social Practices : 74-99.

Feb 24, Wed
1. Official depictions of AIDS: Public Health Campaigns

Readings: Sander Gilman, Picturing Health and Illness, Chapter 6, "The beautiful body and AIDS", Johns Hopkins University Press 1995:115-172.

Slide show on public health posters produced by U.S. and other countries

Feb 26, Fri
1. Get into teams, begin thinking about poster designs

March 1, Mon
1. Midterm #1

March 3, Wed
1. Discussion of midterms.

March 5, Fri
1. Bring in posters, share and discuss
V. Social and Political Contexts

March 8, Mon
1. Political economy of AIDS in the U.S., I: poverty, the inner city

Readings: Merrill Singer, "AIDS and the health crisis of the U.S. urban poor," in Social Science and Medicine.39,7, 1994:931-948.

March 10, Wed
1. Political economy of AIDS in the U.S., II: social inequity and the economy of AIDS

Readings: M. Clatts, "Poverty, drug use, and AIDS: Converging issues in the life stories of women in Harlem," in Wings of Gauze: Women of Color and the Experience of Health and Illness, Wayne State University Press 1993:312-339;

Evelynn Hammonds, "Seeing AIDS: Race, gender, and representation," in N. Goldstin and J. Manlowe, The Gender Politics of HIV/AIDS in Women, NYU Press 1997:113-126;

M. Raffaelli and M. Suarez-Al-Adam, "Reconsidering the HIV/AIDS prevention needs of Latino women in the United States," in N. Roth and L. Fuller, eds., Women and AIDS, The Harrington Park Press 1998:7-42

March 12, Fri
1. Group project: After being assigned a role (real estate financier, public health official, church leader, homeless advocate), get into groups and come up with a community AIDS prevention and treatment program aimed at poor inner city communities.

March 15-19: Spring Recess

March 22, Mon
1. Political economy of AIDS in the U.S., III: women and the new demographics of HIV.

Readings: USAID Office for Women in Development, "Report in Brief: New directions in HIV/AIDS Prevention: A report on the women and AIDS research program final conference."

N. Goldstein and Manlowe, "Introduction," from Goldstein and Manlowe, Eds., The Gender Politics of HIV/AIDS in Women, NYU Press 1997:1-11.

Bill Rodriguez, "Biomedical models of HIV and women," in Goldstein and Manlowe, Eds., The Gender Politics of HIV/AIDS in Women, NYU Press 1997:42.

"Women, HIV and AIDS: Some facts and figures," from http://www.avert.org/womenaid.htm

"United States HIV/AIDS Statistics," U.S. Public Health Service Statistics, http://www.avert.org/usastatg.htm

March 24, Wed
1. How has AIDS impacted the way we see each other?: constructions of disease, constructions of vulnerability

Readings: P. Treichler, "Beyond Cosmo: AIDS, identity, and inscriptions of gender," in Camera Obscura: A Journal of Feminism and Film Theory, 28, 1992:21-76.

Writing Assignment: Find a story in a newspaper that covers AIDS in the U.S., AIDS in American cities, women and AIDS, etc. and critique the article using some of the tools learned the past few weeks. Due Wednesday.

March 26, Fri
1. Speaker panel: drug addicts tell their stories.

March 29, Mon
1. Global overview of AIDS, I: Outmigration in Southeast Africa and its impact on HIV/AIDS

Reading: Wiseman Chijere Chirwa, "Aliens and AIDS in southern Afirca: The Malawi-South Africa debate," in African Affairs 97, 1998:53-79.

March 31, Wed
1. Global overview, II: Thailand

Guest Speaker: Wayne Weible

Readings: Maria Wawer, Chai Pokhisita, Uraiwan Kanungsukkasem, Anthony Pramualratana and Regina McNamara, "Origins and working conditions of female sex workers in urban Thailand: Consequences of social context for HIV transmission," Social Science and medicine 42,3, 1996:453-462.

Writing assignments due.

April 2, Fri
1. Get into groups and discuss possibilities for U.S. intervention into the AIDS epidemic internationally. Discuss options at both the federal level and at a bilateral, non-government level. What might a viable grass roots, NGO program look like for Thailand or East Africa? Should the U.S. incorporate AIDS assistance into international aid funding?

April 5, Mon
1. Global overview, III: India, South America

Reading: Sheena Asthana and Robert Oostvogels, "Community participation in HIV prevention: Proglems and prospects for community-based strategies among female sex workers in Madras," Social Science and Medicine 43,2, 1996:133-148.

Hilary Surratt and James Inciardi, "Drug use and risks for HIV/AIDS among indigent women in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil," from Sally Stevens and Harry Wexler, Eds., Women and Substance Abuse: Gender Transparency, Haworth Press 1998:1-12.

April 7, Wed
1. Share/discuss the outcomes of Friday's exercise.

April 9, Fri
1. Midterm #2

IV. Legal, Ethical, Policy Issues

April 12, Mon
1. Discuss Midterms #2.

Overview of legal, ethical, and policy issues that impact HIV risk behavior.

Reading: Sally Stevens and John Bogart, "Reducing HIV risk behavior of drug involved women: Medical, social, economic, and legal constraints."

April 14, Wed
1. Clinical trials for HIV - exclusionary and inclusionary criteria.

Reading: Sally Stevens, "The history and development of the AIDS/HIV crisis in the United States: Medical treatments, clinical trials and inclusionary criteria," unpublished paper.

April 16, Fri
1. Guest speaker: John Bogart, "Reducing HIV risk."

April 19, Mon
1. Individual freedom versus public health welfare

Readings: AIDS Policy and the Law, Sept 20 1996 issue.

Writing Assignment: Write a reaction to the statement that all HIV-positive cases should be reported by name to a State Health Department. What sort of legal and ethical doors does this or could this open? Due Wednesday.

April 21, Wed
1. Discuss your writing assignments.

April 23, Fri
1. Revisiting the questionnaire of the first day: How does behavior change?

April 26, Mon
1. HIV testing: blood tests, home kits, Roche. What are their advantages? What are their problems from an individual or public health perspective?

Readings: Cindy Patton, Inventing AIDS, Routledge Press 1990, Chapter 2, "Media, testing, and safe sex education: controlling the landscape of AIDS information," pp. 25-49.

April 28, Wed
1. HIV testing, cont'd: Confidential vs. anonymous testing; mandatory testing and mandatory reporting; Contact tracing; Duty to warn.

Reading: B. Gerbert et al, "HIV-infected health care professionals: Public opinion about testing, disclosing, and switching," in Archives of Internal Medicine.

Center for Women Policy Studies, "Mandatory HIV testing of pregnant women - a threat to the reproductive rights of all women," January 1997;

Anna Forbes, "Names will never hurt you?" POZ, February 1998 (4).

April 30, Fri
1. PCHD/CDI speaker

May 3, Mon
1. Treatments, health care issues: How optimistic should we be with the new cocktails'? How should they be funded? Does this lead to new risk taking? What about the development of drug-resistant strains of HIV?

Reading: Chandler Burr, "Of AIDS and altruism," U.S. News and World Report April 6, 1998:60-61;

B. Lindsey, "Peer education: a viewpoint and critique, Journal of American College Health.45, 1997:187-189.

May 5, Wed
1. Wrap up and review for final.