Anthro Prof Theodore Powers publishes article in "Human Organization"

Monday, November 14, 2016

Theodore Powers
Theodore Powers

University of Iowa Professor Theodore Powers has published a new peer-reviewed article in Human Organization, a publication of the Society for Applied Anthropology.

The article, “HIV/AIDS Policy, Transnational Donor Capital and Localized Political Formations in South Africa,” was published in the Fall 2016 issue.

Abstract:

“The process through which antiretroviral therapy became accessible in the South African public health sector was fraught with political conflict. A key aspect of securing access to treatment was the ability of the South African HIV/AIDS movement to influence the development of HIV/AIDS policy. In the narrative that follows, a series of HIV/AIDS policy consultations are analyzed. These meetings concerned the development of provincial guidelines for implementing national HIV/AIDS policy norms. The outcomes reached via this social process highlight the significance of localized political formations in transforming the influence of transnational donor capital and redirecting the South African HIV/AIDS policy process. Based on the interaction of actors, organizations, and influences that produced the policy outcomes under analysis, a critique of existing conceptualizations of transnationalism is put forward that points to the need to frame transnational influence within local social, spatial, and historical particularity.”

Powers is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, part of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. He is a sociocultural anthropologist whose research focuses on the dynamics of health, politics and social inequality in post-apartheid South Africa.


The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.