AbstractsEducation Research & Administration

Using visual ethnography to address sexuality, HIV and AIDS, and Chinese youth

by Ran Tao




Institution: McGill University
Department: Department of Integrated Studies in Education
Degree: PhD
Year: 2009
Keywords: Education - Health
Record ID: 1862129
Full text PDF: http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/thesisfile66853.pdf


Abstract

Worldwide, young people are the most vulnerable population to the HIV infection. In China, college students have been identified as the latest addition to the AIDS high-risk group due to their practices of unsafe heterosexual intercourse. Effective intervention work to protect these young college students needs to be based on a better understanding of the socio-cultural dimensions of the transmission of HIV/STIs (sexually transmitted infections) among them, and on an adequate conceptualization of youth sexuality in terms that go beyond the bio-medically-oriented and positivist explanations. This dissertation is a qualitative study of the sexuality and the embodied experiences of college students in China in relation to HIV and AIDS that uses visual-based participatory action research methodologies. In 2007, a photovoice project was initiated with 25 first-year students (10 male and 15 female), 18-19 years of age, in a university located in an urban area of China. Photovoice blends photography, research, education, and action not only as a strategy for collecting data for this qualitative exploration but also as a means of intervention and education by engaging the study participants in social issues related to HIV and AIDS, sex, and sexuality. Other qualitative methods such as in-depth qualitative interviews, focus groups, and participant observation also were used to provide triangulation, and thus, to obtain a complex picture of the sexuality and bodily experiences of college students in China. Data from the study suggest that young Chinese students hold somewhat contradictory attitudes toward traditional Chinese and Western sexual discourses, and therefore experience a state of tension when trying to decide whether to embrace Western ideas of sexual liberalism or to comply with traditional Chinese sexual norms, and whether to adhere to traditional sexual morals or attempt sexual liberation. The study Les jeunes apparaissent comme étant le groupe de population le plus vulnérable au VIH et au SIDA au niveau mondial. En Chine, ce sont les lycéens, qui parmi les jeunes, ont été identifiés comme un groupe à haut risque particulièrement touché par le SIDA et les relations hétérosexuelles non-protégées. Un travail de prévention effectif devrait se baser sur une meilleure compréhension de la dimension socioculturelle de la transmission du VIH et des MST (maladies sexuellement transmissibles) parmi eux et sur une conceptualisation adéquate de leur sexualité, ceci en allant au-delà des approches biomédicales et positivistes.Cette thèse fait la description d'une étude qualitative de la sexualité et des expériences de lycéens chinois par rapport au VIH et au SIDA en utilisant une méthodologie par actions participatives et observations visuelles. En 2007, un projet de photo-voix a été mis en place parmi 25 étudiants de première année (10 hommes et 15 femmes), âgés de 18 à 19 ans, dans une université située dans une région urbaine…