Donald Prothero and Daniel Loxton
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231153201
- eISBN:
- 9780231526814
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231153201.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Throughout our history, humans have been captivated by mythic beasts and legendary creatures. Tales of Bigfoot, the Yeti, and the Loch Ness monster are part of our collective experience. This book ...
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Throughout our history, humans have been captivated by mythic beasts and legendary creatures. Tales of Bigfoot, the Yeti, and the Loch Ness monster are part of our collective experience. This book explores and elucidates the fascinating world of cryptozoology. This is an entertaining, educational, and definitive text on cryptids, presenting the arguments both for and against their existence and systematically challenging the pseudoscience that perpetuates their myths. After examining the nature of science and pseudoscience and their relation to cryptozoology, the book takes on Bigfoot; the Yeti, or Abominable Snowman, and its cross-cultural incarnations; the Loch Ness monster and its highly publicized sightings; the evolution of the Great Sea Serpent; and Mokele Mbembe, or the Congo dinosaur. It concludes with an analysis of the psychology behind the persistent belief in paranormal phenomena, identifying the major players in cryptozoology, discussing the character of its subculture, and considering the challenge it poses to clear and critical thinking in our increasingly complex world.Less
Throughout our history, humans have been captivated by mythic beasts and legendary creatures. Tales of Bigfoot, the Yeti, and the Loch Ness monster are part of our collective experience. This book explores and elucidates the fascinating world of cryptozoology. This is an entertaining, educational, and definitive text on cryptids, presenting the arguments both for and against their existence and systematically challenging the pseudoscience that perpetuates their myths. After examining the nature of science and pseudoscience and their relation to cryptozoology, the book takes on Bigfoot; the Yeti, or Abominable Snowman, and its cross-cultural incarnations; the Loch Ness monster and its highly publicized sightings; the evolution of the Great Sea Serpent; and Mokele Mbembe, or the Congo dinosaur. It concludes with an analysis of the psychology behind the persistent belief in paranormal phenomena, identifying the major players in cryptozoology, discussing the character of its subculture, and considering the challenge it poses to clear and critical thinking in our increasingly complex world.
Michael Powers
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231153676
- eISBN:
- 9780231527057
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231153676.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This book examines traditional insurance risks such as earthquakes, storms, terrorist attacks, and other disasters. It begins with a discussion of how the risk of such “acts of God and men” impact on ...
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This book examines traditional insurance risks such as earthquakes, storms, terrorist attacks, and other disasters. It begins with a discussion of how the risk of such “acts of God and men” impact on our lives, health, and possessions. It then proceeds to introduce the statistical techniques necessary for analyzing these uncertainties. It explains that quantifying the risks that such disasters pose is difficult but that it is crucial for achieving the financing objectives of insurance. The book guides readers through the methods available for identifying and measuring such risks, financing their consequences, and forecasting their future behaviour (within the limits of science). It also considers the experience of risk from the perspectives of both policyholders and insurance companies, and compares their respective responses. The discussion of the risks inherent in the private insurance industry leads to a discussion of the government's role as both market regulator and potential “insurer of last resort.” The book concludes with an interdisciplinary investigation into the nature of uncertainty, incorporating ideas from physics, philosophy, and game theory to assess science's limitations in predicting the ramifications of risk.Less
This book examines traditional insurance risks such as earthquakes, storms, terrorist attacks, and other disasters. It begins with a discussion of how the risk of such “acts of God and men” impact on our lives, health, and possessions. It then proceeds to introduce the statistical techniques necessary for analyzing these uncertainties. It explains that quantifying the risks that such disasters pose is difficult but that it is crucial for achieving the financing objectives of insurance. The book guides readers through the methods available for identifying and measuring such risks, financing their consequences, and forecasting their future behaviour (within the limits of science). It also considers the experience of risk from the perspectives of both policyholders and insurance companies, and compares their respective responses. The discussion of the risks inherent in the private insurance industry leads to a discussion of the government's role as both market regulator and potential “insurer of last resort.” The book concludes with an interdisciplinary investigation into the nature of uncertainty, incorporating ideas from physics, philosophy, and game theory to assess science's limitations in predicting the ramifications of risk.
Von Nebbitt
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231148580
- eISBN:
- 9780231519960
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231148580.001.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families
This book incorporates data from multiple public housing sites in large U.S. cities to shine much-needed light on the symptoms and behaviors of African American youth living in non-HOPE VI ...
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This book incorporates data from multiple public housing sites in large U.S. cities to shine much-needed light on the symptoms and behaviors of African American youth living in non-HOPE VI public-housing neighborhoods. With findings grounded in empirical research, the book gives practitioners and policy makers a solid grasp of the attitudes toward deviance, alcohol and drug abuse, and depressive symptoms that characterize these communities and links them explicitly to gaps in policy and practice. It initiates new, productive paths for research into this vulnerable population and contributes to the development of preventive interventions that may increase the life chances of affected youth.Less
This book incorporates data from multiple public housing sites in large U.S. cities to shine much-needed light on the symptoms and behaviors of African American youth living in non-HOPE VI public-housing neighborhoods. With findings grounded in empirical research, the book gives practitioners and policy makers a solid grasp of the attitudes toward deviance, alcohol and drug abuse, and depressive symptoms that characterize these communities and links them explicitly to gaps in policy and practice. It initiates new, productive paths for research into this vulnerable population and contributes to the development of preventive interventions that may increase the life chances of affected youth.
Warren Breckman
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231143943
- eISBN:
- 9780231512893
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231143943.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This book critically revisits the reassessment of philosophical Marxism that took place in the middle of the twentieth century. It explores the efforts that were made to reconcile a radical and ...
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This book critically revisits the reassessment of philosophical Marxism that took place in the middle of the twentieth century. It explores the efforts that were made to reconcile a radical and democratic political agenda with a politics that did not privilege materialist understandings of the social. It describes how Marxism's collapse in the twentieth century profoundly altered the style and substance of Western European radical thought. It explains how, in order to build a more robust form of democratic theory and action, prominent theorists moved to reject revolution, abandon class for more fragmented models of social action, and elevate the political over the social. Acknowledging the “constructedness” of society and politics, these theorists chose the “symbolic” as a concept powerful enough to reinvent leftist thought outside a Marxist framework. The book goes on to explain how the post-Marxist idea of the symbolic is dynamic and complex, and that it uncannily echoes the early German Romantics, who first advanced a modern conception of symbolism and the symbolic. It explains how post-Marxist thinkers appreciated the rich potential of the ambiguities and paradoxes that the Romantics first recognized. Mapping different ideas of the symbolic among contemporary thinkers, the book engages with the work of important theorists such as Claude Lévi-Strauss, Cornelius Castoriadis, and Claude Lefort and uniquely situates them within two hundred years of European thought, showing their profound relevance to today's political activism.Less
This book critically revisits the reassessment of philosophical Marxism that took place in the middle of the twentieth century. It explores the efforts that were made to reconcile a radical and democratic political agenda with a politics that did not privilege materialist understandings of the social. It describes how Marxism's collapse in the twentieth century profoundly altered the style and substance of Western European radical thought. It explains how, in order to build a more robust form of democratic theory and action, prominent theorists moved to reject revolution, abandon class for more fragmented models of social action, and elevate the political over the social. Acknowledging the “constructedness” of society and politics, these theorists chose the “symbolic” as a concept powerful enough to reinvent leftist thought outside a Marxist framework. The book goes on to explain how the post-Marxist idea of the symbolic is dynamic and complex, and that it uncannily echoes the early German Romantics, who first advanced a modern conception of symbolism and the symbolic. It explains how post-Marxist thinkers appreciated the rich potential of the ambiguities and paradoxes that the Romantics first recognized. Mapping different ideas of the symbolic among contemporary thinkers, the book engages with the work of important theorists such as Claude Lévi-Strauss, Cornelius Castoriadis, and Claude Lefort and uniquely situates them within two hundred years of European thought, showing their profound relevance to today's political activism.
Brian Edwards
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231174008
- eISBN:
- 9780231540551
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231174008.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
When Henry Luce announced in 1941 that we were living in the “American century,” he believed that the international popularity of American culture made the world favorable to U.S. interests. Now, in ...
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When Henry Luce announced in 1941 that we were living in the “American century,” he believed that the international popularity of American culture made the world favorable to U.S. interests. Now, in the digital twenty-first century, the American century has been superseded, as American movies, music, video games, and television shows are received, understood, and transformed. How do we make sense of this shift? Building on a decade of fieldwork in Cairo, Casablanca, and Tehran, Brian T. Edwards maps new routes of cultural exchange that are innovative, accelerated, and full of diversions. Shaped by the digital revolution, these paths are entwined with the growing fragility of American “soft” power. They indicate an era after the American century, in which popular American products and phenomena—such as comic books, teen romances, social-networking sites, and ways of expressing sexuality—are stripped of their associations with the United States and recast in very different forms. Arguing against those who talk about a world in which American culture is merely replicated or appropriated, Edwards focuses on creative moments of uptake, in which Arabs and Iranians make something unexpected. He argues that these products do more than extend the reach of the original. They reflect a world in which culture endlessly circulates and gathers new meanings.Less
When Henry Luce announced in 1941 that we were living in the “American century,” he believed that the international popularity of American culture made the world favorable to U.S. interests. Now, in the digital twenty-first century, the American century has been superseded, as American movies, music, video games, and television shows are received, understood, and transformed. How do we make sense of this shift? Building on a decade of fieldwork in Cairo, Casablanca, and Tehran, Brian T. Edwards maps new routes of cultural exchange that are innovative, accelerated, and full of diversions. Shaped by the digital revolution, these paths are entwined with the growing fragility of American “soft” power. They indicate an era after the American century, in which popular American products and phenomena—such as comic books, teen romances, social-networking sites, and ways of expressing sexuality—are stripped of their associations with the United States and recast in very different forms. Arguing against those who talk about a world in which American culture is merely replicated or appropriated, Edwards focuses on creative moments of uptake, in which Arabs and Iranians make something unexpected. He argues that these products do more than extend the reach of the original. They reflect a world in which culture endlessly circulates and gathers new meanings.
Charity Scribner
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231168649
- eISBN:
- 9780231538299
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231168649.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book uses critical theory to answer key gender-related questions about the Red Army Faction (RAF), a group that was masterminded by women and which terrorized West Germany from the 1970s to the ...
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This book uses critical theory to answer key gender-related questions about the Red Army Faction (RAF), a group that was masterminded by women and which terrorized West Germany from the 1970s to the 1990s. The questions include: Why were women so prominent in the RAF? And what does the continuing cultural response to the German armed struggle tell us about the representation of violence, power, and gender today? The book analyzes works by pivotal writers and artists, including Gerhard Richter and Elfriede Jelinek, that point beyond militancy and terrorism. This literature and art discloses the failures of the Far Left and registers the radical potential that RAF women actually forfeited. The book maps out a cultural history of militancy and introduces “postmilitancy” as a new critical term. It demonstrates how the most compelling examples of postmilitant culture don't just repudiate militancy but also investigate its horizons of possibility, particularly on the front of sexual politics. The book uses previously untranslated essays by Theodor Adorno and Jürgen Habermas, as well as novels by Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Judith Kuckart, Johann Kresnik's Tanztheaterstück Ulrike Meinhof and the blockbuster exhibition Regarding Terror at the Berlin Kunst-Werke. It also focuses on German cinema and provides interpretations of films by Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff and Fatih Akın. This analysis discloses dynamic junctures among several fields of inquiry: national and sexual identity, the disciplining of the militant body and the relationship between mass media and the arts.Less
This book uses critical theory to answer key gender-related questions about the Red Army Faction (RAF), a group that was masterminded by women and which terrorized West Germany from the 1970s to the 1990s. The questions include: Why were women so prominent in the RAF? And what does the continuing cultural response to the German armed struggle tell us about the representation of violence, power, and gender today? The book analyzes works by pivotal writers and artists, including Gerhard Richter and Elfriede Jelinek, that point beyond militancy and terrorism. This literature and art discloses the failures of the Far Left and registers the radical potential that RAF women actually forfeited. The book maps out a cultural history of militancy and introduces “postmilitancy” as a new critical term. It demonstrates how the most compelling examples of postmilitant culture don't just repudiate militancy but also investigate its horizons of possibility, particularly on the front of sexual politics. The book uses previously untranslated essays by Theodor Adorno and Jürgen Habermas, as well as novels by Friedrich Dürrenmatt and Judith Kuckart, Johann Kresnik's Tanztheaterstück Ulrike Meinhof and the blockbuster exhibition Regarding Terror at the Berlin Kunst-Werke. It also focuses on German cinema and provides interpretations of films by Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff and Fatih Akın. This analysis discloses dynamic junctures among several fields of inquiry: national and sexual identity, the disciplining of the militant body and the relationship between mass media and the arts.
Gerhard Richter
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231157704
- eISBN:
- 9780231530347
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231157704.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
This book argues that the concept of “afterness” is a key figure in the thought and aesthetics of modernity. It pursues questions such as: What does it mean for something to “follow” something else? ...
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This book argues that the concept of “afterness” is a key figure in the thought and aesthetics of modernity. It pursues questions such as: What does it mean for something to “follow” something else? Does that which follows mark a clear break with what came before it, or does it in fact tacitly perpetuate its predecessor as a consequence of its inevitable indebtedness to the terms and conditions of that from which it claims to have departed? Indeed, is not the very act of breaking with, and then following upon, a way of retroactively constructing and fortifying that from which the break that set the movement of following into motion had occurred? The book explores the concept and movement of afterness as a privileged yet uncanny category through close readings of writers such as Immanuel Kant, Franz Kafka, Martin Heidegger, Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin, Bertolt Brecht, Theodor Adorno, Hannah Arendt, Jean-François Lyotard, and Jacques Derrida. It shows how the vexed concepts of afterness, following, and coming after shed new light on a constellation of modern preoccupations, including personal and cultural memory, translation, photography, hope, and the historical and conceptual specificity of what has been termed “after Auschwitz.” The book’s various analyses illuminate Lyotard’s apodictic statement that “after philosophy comes philosophy. But it has been altered by the after.” The book demonstrates, that much hinges on our interpretation of the “after”.Less
This book argues that the concept of “afterness” is a key figure in the thought and aesthetics of modernity. It pursues questions such as: What does it mean for something to “follow” something else? Does that which follows mark a clear break with what came before it, or does it in fact tacitly perpetuate its predecessor as a consequence of its inevitable indebtedness to the terms and conditions of that from which it claims to have departed? Indeed, is not the very act of breaking with, and then following upon, a way of retroactively constructing and fortifying that from which the break that set the movement of following into motion had occurred? The book explores the concept and movement of afterness as a privileged yet uncanny category through close readings of writers such as Immanuel Kant, Franz Kafka, Martin Heidegger, Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin, Bertolt Brecht, Theodor Adorno, Hannah Arendt, Jean-François Lyotard, and Jacques Derrida. It shows how the vexed concepts of afterness, following, and coming after shed new light on a constellation of modern preoccupations, including personal and cultural memory, translation, photography, hope, and the historical and conceptual specificity of what has been termed “after Auschwitz.” The book’s various analyses illuminate Lyotard’s apodictic statement that “after philosophy comes philosophy. But it has been altered by the after.” The book demonstrates, that much hinges on our interpretation of the “after”.
Sophal Ear
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231161121
- eISBN:
- 9780231530927
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231161121.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This book reveals the pernicious effects of aid dependence and its perversion of Cambodian democracy. It analyzes the period since international intervention liberated Cambodia from pariah state ...
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This book reveals the pernicious effects of aid dependence and its perversion of Cambodian democracy. It analyzes the period since international intervention liberated Cambodia from pariah state status in the early 1990s and shows how the country’s social indicators and the integrity of its political institutions declined rapidly within a few short years, while inequality grew dramatically. It argues that international intervention and foreign aid resulted in higher maternal mortality rates and unprecedented corruption by the mid-2000s. Similarly it shows that the more aid-dependent a country is, the more distorted its incentives to develop sustainably become. Contrasting Cambodia’s clothing sector with its rice and livestock sectors and its internal handling of the avian flu epidemic, the book showcases the international community’s role in preventing Cambodia from controlling its national development. It argues that as Cambodia is a post-conflict state that is unable to refuse aid, it is rife with trial-and-error donor experiments and their unintended consequences, such as bad governance and poor domestic and tax revenue performance—a major factor curbing sustainable, nationally owned development. By outlining the terms through which countries can achieve better ownership of their development, the book offers alternatives for governments that are on the brink of collapse and dependent on foreign intervention and aid.Less
This book reveals the pernicious effects of aid dependence and its perversion of Cambodian democracy. It analyzes the period since international intervention liberated Cambodia from pariah state status in the early 1990s and shows how the country’s social indicators and the integrity of its political institutions declined rapidly within a few short years, while inequality grew dramatically. It argues that international intervention and foreign aid resulted in higher maternal mortality rates and unprecedented corruption by the mid-2000s. Similarly it shows that the more aid-dependent a country is, the more distorted its incentives to develop sustainably become. Contrasting Cambodia’s clothing sector with its rice and livestock sectors and its internal handling of the avian flu epidemic, the book showcases the international community’s role in preventing Cambodia from controlling its national development. It argues that as Cambodia is a post-conflict state that is unable to refuse aid, it is rife with trial-and-error donor experiments and their unintended consequences, such as bad governance and poor domestic and tax revenue performance—a major factor curbing sustainable, nationally owned development. By outlining the terms through which countries can achieve better ownership of their development, the book offers alternatives for governments that are on the brink of collapse and dependent on foreign intervention and aid.
Peter Piot
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231166263
- eISBN:
- 9780231538770
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231166263.001.0001
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
This book recounts the experiences of the founding executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) as he fought the disease from its earliest manifestations to today. It ...
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This book recounts the experiences of the founding executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) as he fought the disease from its earliest manifestations to today. It shows how the AIDS pandemic was not only catastrophic to the health of millions worldwide but that it also fractured international relations and public health policies in nations across the globe. It shows that, as the author struggled to get ahead of the disease, he found that science does little good when it operates independently of politics and economics. He also found that politics is worthless if it rejects scientific evidence and respect for human rights. The book describes how the HIV/AIDs epidemic altered global attitudes toward sexuality, changed the character of the doctor-patient relationship, altered the influence of civil society in international relations and broke traditional partisan divides. It illustrates how AIDS thrust health into national and international politics. It argues that the global reaction to AIDS over the past decade is the positive result of this development, and that this shows what can be achieved when science, politics, and policy converge on the ground. Because the achievements that have been made are fragile, the book warns against complacency and the consequences of reduced investments. It refuses to accept a world in which high levels of HIV infection are the norm. Instead, it explains how to continue to reduce the incidence of the disease through both prevention and treatment, until a vaccine is discovered.Less
This book recounts the experiences of the founding executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) as he fought the disease from its earliest manifestations to today. It shows how the AIDS pandemic was not only catastrophic to the health of millions worldwide but that it also fractured international relations and public health policies in nations across the globe. It shows that, as the author struggled to get ahead of the disease, he found that science does little good when it operates independently of politics and economics. He also found that politics is worthless if it rejects scientific evidence and respect for human rights. The book describes how the HIV/AIDs epidemic altered global attitudes toward sexuality, changed the character of the doctor-patient relationship, altered the influence of civil society in international relations and broke traditional partisan divides. It illustrates how AIDS thrust health into national and international politics. It argues that the global reaction to AIDS over the past decade is the positive result of this development, and that this shows what can be achieved when science, politics, and policy converge on the ground. Because the achievements that have been made are fragile, the book warns against complacency and the consequences of reduced investments. It refuses to accept a world in which high levels of HIV infection are the norm. Instead, it explains how to continue to reduce the incidence of the disease through both prevention and treatment, until a vaccine is discovered.
Nicoli Nattrass
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231149136
- eISBN:
- 9780231520256
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231149136.001.0001
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
Since the early days of the AIDS epidemic, many bizarre and dangerous hypotheses have been advanced to explain the origins of the disease. This book explores the social and political factors ...
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Since the early days of the AIDS epidemic, many bizarre and dangerous hypotheses have been advanced to explain the origins of the disease. This book explores the social and political factors prolonging the erroneous belief that the American government manufactured the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to be used as a biological weapon, as well as the myth's consequences for behavior, especially within African American and black South African communities. Contemporary AIDS denialism, the belief that HIV is harmless and that antiretroviral drugs are the true cause of AIDS, is a more insidious AIDS conspiracy theory. Advocates of this position make a “conspiratorial move” against HIV science by implying its methods cannot be trusted and that untested, alternative therapies are safer than antiretrovirals. These claims are genuinely life-threatening, as tragically demonstrated in South Africa when the delay of antiretroviral treatment resulted in nearly 333,000 AIDS deaths and 180,000 HIV infections—a tragedy of stunning proportions. The book identifies four symbolically powerful figures ensuring the lifespan of AIDS denialism: the hero scientist (dissident scientists who lend credibility to the movement); the cultropreneur (alternative therapists who exploit the conspiratorial move as a marketing mechanism); the living icon (individuals who claim to be living proof of AIDS denialism's legitimacy); and the praise-singer (journalists who broadcast movement messages to the public). It also describes how pro-science activists have fought back by deploying empirical evidence and political credibility to resist AIDS conspiracy theories, which is part of the crucial project to defend evidence-based medicine.Less
Since the early days of the AIDS epidemic, many bizarre and dangerous hypotheses have been advanced to explain the origins of the disease. This book explores the social and political factors prolonging the erroneous belief that the American government manufactured the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to be used as a biological weapon, as well as the myth's consequences for behavior, especially within African American and black South African communities. Contemporary AIDS denialism, the belief that HIV is harmless and that antiretroviral drugs are the true cause of AIDS, is a more insidious AIDS conspiracy theory. Advocates of this position make a “conspiratorial move” against HIV science by implying its methods cannot be trusted and that untested, alternative therapies are safer than antiretrovirals. These claims are genuinely life-threatening, as tragically demonstrated in South Africa when the delay of antiretroviral treatment resulted in nearly 333,000 AIDS deaths and 180,000 HIV infections—a tragedy of stunning proportions. The book identifies four symbolically powerful figures ensuring the lifespan of AIDS denialism: the hero scientist (dissident scientists who lend credibility to the movement); the cultropreneur (alternative therapists who exploit the conspiratorial move as a marketing mechanism); the living icon (individuals who claim to be living proof of AIDS denialism's legitimacy); and the praise-singer (journalists who broadcast movement messages to the public). It also describes how pro-science activists have fought back by deploying empirical evidence and political credibility to resist AIDS conspiracy theories, which is part of the crucial project to defend evidence-based medicine.