Applied Linguistics, Local Knowledge and HIV/AIDS

This volume focuses on the role of language, discourse and semiotics in the construction of knowledge in HIV/AIDS education in different regions of the world, within the broader framework of applied linguistics and public health. The contributions examine the production, location and utilization of local knowledge in educational settings vis-à-vis discourses that are transmitted through offi cial channels such as medical and health professionals, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international agencies. Defi ning HIV/AIDS education broadly, the volume examines the construction of HIV/AIDS education as a discourse within educational contexts that shapes knowledge about the disease, and the emergence of competing and cross-cultural ideologies that are co-constructed in educational settings. The central goal of the volume is to provide a collection of studies that yields helpful insights into the discursive construction of knowledge about HIV/AIDS, while demonstrating how the tools of applied linguistics can be exercised to reveal a deeper understanding of the production and dissemination of this knowledge. Our goal is to democratize the construction of knowledge about HIV/AIDS through sensitive, emic analyses that give priority to the voices of people, including youth, who are not typically sanctioned as producers of such knowledge. The chapters use a range of qualitative methodologies to critically explore the role of language and discourse in educational contexts in which various and sometimes competing forms of knowledge about HIV/ AIDS are constructed. The authors draw on discourse analysis, ethnography and social semiotics to interpret meaning-making practices in HIV/ AIDS education around the world, analyzing formal and informal educational practices in Australia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India,