Love, Marriage and HIV:
A Multi-site Ethnographic Study of Gender and HIV RiskMarch 2, 2006
Population Studies and Training Center
68 Waterman Street, Providence, RIFor women in many parts of the world, the behavior that puts them at greatest risk for HIV infection is unprotected sex within marriage. This conference will share and critically examine findings from an NIH-funded five-country comparative ethnographic study, “Love, Marriage and HIV,” which explores how social and cultural factors influence marital and extramarital intimate relationships. Panelists will discuss the sexual and HIV prevention practices of men and women across five locations in countries at different stages of the HIV epidemic. The five countries of focus are: Mexico, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, and Vietnam. By detailing the processes through which contextual factors shape men’s extramarital sexual relationships and women’s risk of marital HIV infection in these five societies, the conference will contribute to understanding ways to reduce the risk of heterosexual HIV transmission.
Conference Schedule
Thursday, March 2
9:00-10:00 Meet at PSTC Goldstein Conference Room
10-11:30 Roundtable Discussion with Brown Graduate Students
11:30-12:00 Break/Conference Set-upConference
12:00-12:15 Introduction (Dan Smith, Brown University)
12:15-12:30 Project Overview (Jennifer Hirsch, Columbia University)
12:30-1:00 “My husband has many girlfriends”: The political economy of male infidelity and married women’s HIV risk in Uganda ( Shanti Parikh, Washington University)
1:00-1:15 Lunch: sandwiches provided
1:15-1:45 The inevitability of infidelity: Sexual reputation, social geographies and marital HIV risk in rural Mexico (Jennifer Hirsch, Columbia University)
1:45-2:15 “Rice is essential but tiresome, you should eat some noodles”: The political-economy of married women’s HIV risk in Ha Noi, Vietnam (Harriet Phinney, University of Washington)
2:15-2:35 Commentary (Lina Fruzzetti, Brown University)
2:35-2:50 Discussion
2:50-3:00 Coffee Break
3:00-3:30 “Usually I just find passenger women. You know – women who don’t belong to anyone”: Men’s extramarital sexuality in rural Papua New Guinea (Holly Wardlow, University of Toronto)
3:30-4:00 Modern marriage, extramarital sex and HIV risk in southeastern Nigeria (Dan Smith, Brown University)
4:00-4:15 Conclusions (Jennifer Hirsch, Columbia University)
4:15- 4:35 Commentary (Nick Townsend, Brown University)
4:35-5:00 Discussion
5:00 p.m. Reception