Once Upon a Virus: AIDS Legends And Vernacular Risk Perception

by Diane E. Goldstein

Once Upon a Virus explores how contemporary, or "urban," legends are indicators of culturally complex attitudes toward health and illness. Tracing the rich tradition of AIDS legends in relation to current scholarship on belief, Diane Goldstein shows how such stories not only articulate widespread perceptions of risk, health care, and health policy, they also influence official and scientific approaches to the disease and its management. Notions that appear in narratives of who gets AIDS, how and why, are indicators of broad issues involving health beliefs, concerns, and needs.

Genres: Folklore, Nonfiction, Sociology, Read For School, Textbooks

200 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2004

Reviews

[Azadeh Najafian · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a really insightful book especially reading it in this new pandemic, adds more layers of meaning to it.

[~Li~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yliopistoo varten luettu!

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book for school, and combined with the other two belief books we read, an absolute world view changer!!

[Megan Holodniuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for my Anthropology of Infectious Disease and Contagion class. Discusses folk tales of the spread of HIV/AIDS and how they are spread. An interesting read and interesting to see how these "folk tales" get told and transmogrify. Ostenion is also discussed quite a lot in Goldstein's book- a concept I had never really considered before. Once you read about ostention, you see it everywhere!

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice study of AIDS legends and vernacular risk perception.