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SUMMARY:Geographies of Sexual Risk: Rethinking the Ontology of Migration t
 hrough a Case Study of Epidemiological Research - Arthur Davis
DTSTART:20200225T131000Z
DTEND:20200225T140000Z
UID:TALK139678@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Adam Attaheri
DESCRIPTION:Much epidemiological research has been conducted on the sexual
  health of MSM (men who have sex with men) migrating from countries with h
 igh levels of institutionalised homophobia to so-called ‘queer hubs’ s
 uch as London. However\, little work has been done on how the methodology 
 employed by such epidemiological research reinforces an exclusionary and m
 isleading binary between risky\, ‘Eastern’ MSM and enlightened\, ‘We
 stern’ MSM. Drawing on the ‘Patient Zero’ trope\, I argue that sexua
 l health risks which transcend borders are implicitly assumed in much epid
 emiological research to be distinctly foreign threats to the purity of the
  homeland. However\, growing bodies of literature from both political geog
 raphers and philosophers of science on the construction of risk\, as well 
 as epidemiological research exploring the specific dynamics of migration (
 be it international or intranational)\, illustrate the more complex\, cheq
 uered nature of sexual behaviours and sexual risk across borders. The conc
 eptual binary currently upheld in epidemiological research and sexual heal
 th policy risks letting certain migrants fall through the cracks in sexual
  health services\, while contributing to the stigmatisation and social exc
 lusion of others. It is thus necessary to reformulate our conception of th
 e ‘migrant’ in sexual health policy and epidemiological research in or
 der to capture more precisely what it is about mobile populations that pla
 ces them at higher sexual risk\, and how such factors may affect individua
 ls not typically thought of as migrants. Through an analysis of interviews
  with sexual health professionals and migrant health organisations\, and a
  rigorous reading of epidemiological research\, health policy texts and th
 eoretical literature\, I argue for a de-spatialisation of the notion of mi
 gration\, understanding the migrant as someone who moves between discursiv
 e\, as well as physical\, spaces. Understanding the temporal\, as well as 
 spatial\, dimensions of migration would vastly improve the validity of epi
 demiological research on the sexual health of mobile populations.
LOCATION:The Richard King Room\, Darwin College
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