"Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves": Educational Discourses on AIDS/HIV in the Nordic Countries

• In Event: 51.033 - HIV/AIDS in 21st Century Education and Research

Abstract

HIV/AIDS educational discourses within the Nordic context have since the outbreak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s mostly focused on prevention, in particular safer sex education framed by the narrative of death and fear. Within most Nordic countries, especially Finland and Iceland, HIV/AIDS education is usually not approached from the point of view of personal stories, literature, films or as part of culture/society/human rights, but as part of Health Education. In this context, it is engaged as a topic which should be handled within the prevention of sex related diseases. As such, a holistic approach to HIV/AIDS education has been lacking – rarely drawing attention to the international/global perspective related to HIV/AIDS, or intersecting critical factors such as class, sexuality, gender, ethnicity and social background in any discussion about the disease. In other words, HIV/AIDS education has been pursued from a heteronormative/cisgender perspective, lacking all queer /critical aspects in the Nordic context. This trend has also been reflected in textbooks on the topic, of which the focus is on prevention and information on safer sex. However, there are other resources with regards to HIV/AIDS that speak to the Nordic context and are also culturally sensitive, which could be used in HIV/AIDS education. One of those resources is the book named in the title of this paper (as well as a play and a film based on it) of Jonas Gardell, that tells the whole story of the HIV/AIDS epidemic from a personal narrative within the Nordic context, specifically Sweden. It has however rarely been used in education about the epidemic. Neither has any critical engagement with the topic been part of the classroom work or pedagogies employed. Thus in our paper we draw on historical analysis of how HIV/AIDS education has evolved within the Nordic context, giving primarily empirical examples from Iceland and Finland. Moreover, we discuss how HIV/AIDS education can be taken further within the Nordic context by focusing on different perspectives related to the HIV/AIDS in order to nurture a critical awareness (Kumashiro 1999, 2000, 2001) and deeper understanding of the disease.

Authors

• Jon Ingvar Kjaran, University of Iceland

• Brynja Elisabeth Halldórsdóttir Gudjonsson, University of Iceland

• Jukka Lehtonen, University of Helsinki