Politics 387PP - Advanced Topics in Politics: 'Pandemic Politics: Thinking Through the HIV/AIDS Crisis'

The COVID-19 pandemic and global monkeypox outbreak demonstrate that all health crises are also political crises. Yet, there are clear parallels between these contemporary crises and a crisis that has been raging since 1981: the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. The same political failures, systemic vulnerabilities, and disparities in testing and treatment of the last four decades are like a loud, broken record on repeat today. Yet, the HIV/AIDS crisis also produced new social movements, gave birth to queer theory, dramatically changed public health policy, and inspired an explosion of activist art. In this course, we will explore the political thought generated by the HIV/AIDS crisis, especially through film, histories, legal studies, and the arts.

Prereq: 8 credits in Politics.