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About Aids in
Culture
AIDSinCULTURE.org
is an international and interdisciplinary academic organization
currently based in Mexico City dedicated to the study of Aids in its
cultural context. The project was initiated in 2004 by Dr. Lars Ivar
Owesen-Lein Borge, Norwegian anthropologist and historian, and is
directed by an interdisciplinary Academic Committee. The objectives of
the organization are to consider how the social sciences and humanities
can contribute to the fight against HIV/AIDS, to develop an extensive
body of scientific literature on cultural responses to HIV/AIDS, and to
build an international network of scientists, professionals, students
and activists working with these issues. Individuals, Organizations and
Institutions can sign up as members in AIDSinCULTURE.org.
The
Annual Aids in Culture Conference
» Call
for Papers: Aids
in Culture IV - December 2007
AIDS is not simply
an illness or a biomedical phenomenon. The organisation „AIDSinCulture.org“
founded and co-sponsored by Enkidu Magazine in Mexico City and the International
Society for Cultural History and Cultural Studies (CHiCS) in cooperation
with CENSIDA (The National Mexican AIDS Council) and CNDH (The National
Human Rights Commission in Mexico) seeks to examine cultural
responses to AIDS in different cultures and societies across a wide
range of perspectives. The conference will explore the processes by
which AIDS is constructed as a cultural phenomenon and how different
societies in their encounters with AIDS attempt to create meaning in
health, illness and disease. The conference aims at bringing together
academics working in all relevant disciplines as well as activists,
artists and other professionals, and promoting innovative
multidisciplinary and multicultural exchange and dialogue.
The conference cycle AIDS in Culture has
already developed into an annual tradition and will be organized for the
fourth time in 2007 in Mexico City. In 2004 Aids in Culture took place in
the National Center for Human Rights (CNDH) in Mexico City and had
artistic and aesthetic responses to AIDS/HIV as a special focus. The
Artist of the Conference was Rolando de la Rosa -Mexican sculptor and
painter-. In 2005 AIDS in Culture II was held in the Archivo Histórico
Santamaría in the city of Papantla in the Mexican Federal State of
Veracruz. The second edition of the conference cycle had Indigenous
knowledge and conceptions of AIDS in Latin America, Africa and New
Guinea as its core theme. The Artist of the Conference was Morgan
Alexander -American photo-ethnographer-.
In 2006 AIDS in Culture III
returned to Mexico City. The conference was organized in a large number
of special thematic sessions covering a diverse series of topics
extending from „The History of AIDS Activism“, "Representations
of Aids in Literature", "Aids in Education" to "The
Politics of Aids and Aids in Politics" and "Perceptions of
Aids in Lesbian Sub-Cultures in Mexico". The artist of the
conference was Arturo Ramirez Juárez, Mexican painter, who died of AIDS
in 1987.
This year the conference will have a
special focus on Aids and Otherness and Aids in narratives of
identities. Papers addressing related issues as well as translations
between cultures and re-negotiations and re-constructions of cultural
identities in one one way or another in relation to AIDS and HIV are
particularly welcome. However, also in 2007 the conference will follow a
similar model as in the previous year with several different thematic
sessions addressing several different issues. Papers are welcomed on virtually all related topics
and themes, independently of time, period and space, as well as
interdisciplinary perspectives.
AIDSinCULTURE.org: Mission Statement
The mission of AIDSinCULTURE.org is to
support and encourage research in the humanities and social sciences in
the fight against HIV and AIDS. Our work have the following objectives:
1) to stimulate and advocate innovative
investigations within the humanities and the social sciences about
AIDS related issues, and promote perspectives from the humanities and
social sciences within the broader Aids research community, as well as
encourage dialogue and exchange between researchers, professionals,
students, artists, organizations, public institutions, government
agencies and the general public.
2) to make the information generated in
the conferences and in our research activities available to a global
audience through publication of the conference proceedings, and
related articles, as well as through our outreach activities.
3) to provide a global forum for
dialogue and debate, where diverse voices from all over the world can
come together, make connections and discuss topics of mutual interest
and develop new ideas across linguistic, cultural and
academic barriers, and where scientists in the humanities and social sciences
working with AIDS related topics can meet and communicate about their
work.
4) to develop an extensive body of
scientific literature on cultural responses to HIV/AIDS which can be
used to develop strategies to fight HIV and AIDS that take the
importance of cultural factors into consideration.
To this end, AIDSinCULTURE.org
1) organizes annual academic
conferences in cooperation with public universities, government
agencies or NGO's.
2) Maintains an extensive news service
in Castilian as an independent section in Enkidu Magazine, dedicated
to "Aids in Culture" from a wide range of perspectives: http://enkidumagazine.com/_d/DO7.htm
3) sponsors a monthly session dedicated
to "Aids in Culture" as part of "Los Martes de
Enkidu", a weekly community event organized by Enkidu Magazine in
Mexico City: http://www.enkidumagazine.com/losmartes.htm
4) participates in conferences,
symposia, community events, activist meetings and other events organized
by other institutions and organizations to spread consciousness about
the importance of providing a meeting point for activists and
academics involved in the fight against AIDS/HIV and encourage more
dialogue and exchange between institutions and organizations
in this global struggle which affect us all in so many ways.
AIDSinCULTURE.org is a community project,
open to all interested persons. The organization is affiliated with the
International Society for Cultural History and Cultural Studies (CHiCS)
in Mexico City, however, it is not necessary to be member of CHiCS to
join AIDSinCULTURE.Org. Regular Membership Fee for AIDSinCULTURE.Org is 550
Mexican Pesos per year, or 50 USD for individuals. If you would like to enroll in our organization,
please, contact Agustin Villalpando, our membership officer at avs@enkidumagazine.com
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