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The genocidal virus: Addressing beliefs among students of colour that AIDs is a man‐made disease (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate )
Author(s) -
Lyons Thomas
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
anthropology today
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.419
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1467-8322
pISSN - 0268-540X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8322.12121
Subject(s) - interpretation (philosophy) , humility , perspective (graphical) , sociology , white (mutation) , epistemology , gender studies , social science , law , political science , philosophy , linguistics , biochemistry , chemistry , artificial intelligence , computer science , gene
This paper explores beliefs revealed in classroom discussions at a majority black university in the United States that HIV/AIDS is a form of genocide. The perspective of the sociology of knowledge, a critique of the realist interpretation of science, argues that these beliefs are rational given the students' social relationship to the scientific establishment. Paolo Friere's philosophy of popular education and the anthropological method teach us to take these beliefs seriously. The white instructor's own gaps in knowledge counsel humility in teaching about the origins of HIV to students of colour. Finally, the paper describes how the students and the instructor were able to find a common ground in the interpretation of AIDS as a man‐made epidemic.