Anthropological Contributions to AIDS Research

ore than 115,000 cases of AIDS have been reported to the Centers for Disease, Control, and by 1991 300,000 cases are expected to occur in this country alone. Professionals representing a wide range of disciplines are examining the biological, epidemiological, and sociocultural aspects of the disease and there is unanimous agreement in the scientific and professional community today that, in the absence of a vaccine or a cure, reduction of risk behavior remains the strongest deterrent against further spread of the disease. Anthropologists have the opportunity to make a unique contribution to these preventive efforts. Our theoretical training and methodological skills provide us with interpretive frames and analytical tools for careful observation and examination of human behavior in natural settings. Ethnographic, meaning-centered studies can facilitate a deeper understanding of risky and preventive behavior in the context of human relationships. Anthropologists, however, have been somewhat slow to respond to the AIDS crisis, and publications concerning AIDS in the anthropological literature remain limited. In a 1986 issue of the old series of the Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Michael Gorman introduced six brief commentaries by AIDS investigators, many of them programmatic statements. Concurrently, Douglas Feldman and Thomas M. Johnson (1986) edited a collection of 15 papers in their volume, The Social Dimension of AIDS. Last year Medical Anthropology published a special issue entitled The AIDS Pandemic: A Global Emergency, and additional articles have appeared recently in other anthropological publications (e.g., Feldman 1985; Herdt 1987; Parker 1987). Anthropologists have also begun contributing to epidemiological research on HIV (e.g., Feldman, Friedman, and Des Jarlais 1987; Gorman 1986; Stall, Coates, and Hoff 1988; Stall et al. 1986), and a growing number (e.g., Bolognone and Johnson 1986; Clatts and Mutchler 1989; Farmer and Kleinman 1988; McCombie 1986) have joined other social scientists and humanists exploring the cultural construction of AIDS and its metaphors. The general reluctance of anthropologists to participate actively in the national and international dialogue surrounding the AIDS epidemic appears to be