Culturing Talk About HIV/AIDS in Ireland

This Thesis is concerned with the ways in which discourses about HIV and AIDS are generated in Ireland and how they are cultured within the various practicums in which they are generated. I discuss this in relation to three practicums: the practicum of microbiological science as taught to undergraduate students, the practicum of public health and health promotion, and the practicum of gay men’s saunas. I trace the ways in which these practicums are interrelated and how knowledge about HIV and AIDS is generated and given meaning within each practicum and between practicums. Starting with the production o f a scientific discourse of HIV and AIDS, I examine the production of epidemiological knowledge through statistical representations of HIV and AIDS in the population, and look at how these statistical representations are used to target strategic interventions among particular groups. I detail the origins of the gay community and their response to AIDS and HIV as well as their relations with government in attempting to introduce HIV prevention strategies among gay men. This includes a discussion of various representations used in HIV prevention materials produced both by the gay community and by the Department of Health and regional Health Boards