������ýӰ��

This presentation explores how efforts to manage the spread of AIDS intersected with broader efforts to restrict African migration in late twentieth century Britain. Its target audience is students and staff interested in the history of HIV/AIDS in Britain, as well as the broader histories of health and migration. 

This paper examines the intersection of race and sexuality in the control and management of African mobilities in late twentieth century Britain. Since 1984, claims of a Haitian connection to AIDS made race a central contention in British public discourse on AIDS. This paper looks at the institutional debates stirred-up by proposals to screen nationals of African descent for HIV-AIDS in Britain. It captures a moment when sub-Saharan Africa, Africans and African mobilities emerged as a key concern for the Foreign Office, Home Office and the Health Department. Using the threshold period of 1985-1995, I will argue how AIDS racialized sexuality in new and continuing ways while staking a new ground to consolidate British borders and sovereignty.

Speaker

Somak Biswas is a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge. He is a historian of modern Britain and India, with a particular interest in the transnational histories of race, sexuality, migration and diaspora. His current research explores how AIDS racialised late 20th century British border discourse, and how it sparked new fears around borders and immigration.  Simultaneously, he also examines how AIDS influenced new languages of Black and Asian activism in Britain.

Event notices

• Please note that you can join this event in person or you can join the session remotely.
• Please note that this session will not be recorded.