Spectacles and Visibilities: Literary and Cultural Images of AIDS Post-1996
North East Modern Language Association, 2003 Conference in Boston, MA
March 6th to 9th, 2003
In Simon Watney's influential essay "The Spectacle of AIDS," published in
1988, just one year after the first display of the AIDS Quilt on Capitol
Hill, Watney identifies the conflict between truth and tabloid in
AIDS-related knowledge and images. Watney speaks about the highly visible
ways the gay male body was presented in Western media as a source of fear
and contagion as a body with AIDS. Since Watney coined the term the
"spectacle of AIDS," much work has been done to change visibilities of
people living and dying with the disease. The de-gaying of AIDS brought a
complicated new visibility for both gay men and women, and recent
HIV-infection rates in developing nations (like those in sub-Saharan
Africa) have captured recent media and activist attention in the West.
This panel seeks to open a debate about current (post-protease inhibitor
or post-1996) visibilities of AIDS keeping Watney's concept of
"spectacle"(and its implications of exploitation and 'difference') in
mind. Potential papers may deal with visual images of AIDS and the body
with AIDS in fiction, auto/biography, drama, and poetry written in a
post-protease context. Papers may want to deal with the concept of
visibility in current media representations of the disease, asking who is
visible now as PLWA or asking how the West views and imagines the epidemic
in the 'Rest' of the world. Papers may also want to investigate visual
images associated with AIDS, such as the NAMES Project AIDS Quilt or the
Red Ribbon, and examine their currency in the present dynamics of the
virus/syndrome.
All enquiries and submissions should be directed to Dr. Diana Davidson via
e-mail at diana _ davidson @ hotmail.com or by mail at Department of
English, 3-5 Humanities Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada. T6G 2E5. The deadline for submissions is September 10th and all
inquiries will be answered. All presenters must be members of NEMLA by
October 1st, 2002. For more information on NEMLA and the conference in
Boston, please see www.nemla.org.
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