Special Issue of Journal of Popular Television
It’s a Sin belongs to the HIV/AIDS retrovision genre (Kagan, 2018), dramatising the early years of the pandemic. Audiences are shown what reality was like before and immediately after the outbreak of HIV/AIDS. Compared to earlier representations of the outbreak of HIV/AIDS, It’s a Sin arguably succeeds in addressing HIV/AIDS in an empowering rather than a stigmatising manner. It challenges previous representations of the early years of the pandemic by not contributing to the association of HIV/AIDS with a discourse of illness and death. Rather, it presents the social suffering that emerged with HIV/AIDS and provides space for audiences to reflect on their contribution to the suffering of others.
This special issue aims to bring together scholars of various disciplines – including Media and Communication Studies, TV Studies, Cultural Studies, HIV/AIDS Studies, Sexuality Studies, Medical Humanities – who wish to critically examine the ways in which It’s a Sin contributes to a shared awareness around HIV/AIDS. In line with the aims and scope of the journal, the approach of the special issue is such that identifies the importance of television – popular television in particular – in contributing to sociocultural and political change. The ways as well as the extent in which this is achieved will be the focus of this special issue.
Submission of abstracts
Please submit a 200-word abstract, together with a brief bio note by 25 February 2022 to Dr Angelos Bollas (angelos.bollas@dcu.ie). Please, note that we are trying to move to publication as soon as possible. For that reason, full papers (6,000 – 8,000 words) must be submitted to guest editor for initial review by 24 June 2022.
