Artist

Viviane Namaste

Doctorat, sémiologie, Université du Québec à Montréal; Maîtrise ès arts, Département de sociologie, Université York; Baccalauréat en arts, Département de sociologie, Université Carleton.

My current research seeks to interrogate the limitations of our knowledge on HIV/AIDS and sexual health. Working with populations that have not been recognized within traditional epidemiology and public health surveillance (transsexuals, bisexuals), I seek to demonstrate the important contributions that critical social science inquiry can make to our understandings of infectious disease. Two of my research projects raise questions specific to sexuality studies, engaging in empirical inquiry for bisexual men and women (in one instance related to HIV/AIDS, in another specific to refugee claims). Here, I trouble the ways in which academic knowledge on sexuality excludes people who have sexual relations with both men and women. Finally, I am engaged in an historical project which considers the history of censorship in Québec in the post-war years, with a particular focus on the popular press.

Videography

Madame Lauraine's Transsexual Touch

2001, 34:00 minutes, colour, English