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SoSe 21: Global HIV/AIDS: Writing the Global History of a Pandemic

Sébastien Tremblay

Comments

Following academic debates on SARS-CoV-2, historical discussions concerning HIV/AIDS have resurfaced and focused on possible comparisons. These discussions have shown the importance of the history of sexuality in establishing the conceptualization of knowledge and crises. On the other hand, global pandemics are also interesting for historians, as they force us to reflect on global moments, inequalities, and the writing of history beyond national borders. This methodological seminar centres on the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis and invites students to use social history in order to discuss different approaches to international transfers and space in contemporary history. Going beyond multiple comparative histories of the pandemic, this seminar will use multiple historical case studies to investigate the roles of connections, movement, and global exchanges in the writing of transnational history. In a first time, using secondary literature about local and international aspects of the historiography of HIV/AIDS, the seminar will introduce students to methodologies surrounding the writing of world or global history. The rest of the seminar will then venture across time and space to identify the historical actors and actresses at the core of such a history, emphasizing social movements and power structures. At the end of the seminar, students will be able to employ key concepts of global history such as globality, internationalism, and synchronicity, while drawing on concrete historical examples emerging from the history of the pandemic. Students should be aware that the course contains sensitive and sometimes graphic materials related to sexuality, drug use, and the physical manifestations of disease. close