Alex Iannarelli
English 101
2/25/13
Written Assignment #2
The Readings of Gamson and Sontag
In both essays from Gamson and Sontag’s can explain the awareness toward HIV/AIDs
have in the cultural today and from the past. Sociologist Joshua Gamson takes an interest in
ACT-UP as a way to understand what he calls a “historical shift” in the way social movements
are understood and perhaps even studied. Consider for a moment the distinction he draws
between such continental and historical shifts: The AIDS activist movement appears to share the
most basic characteristics of “new social movements”: a (broadly middle-class membership and
a mix of instrumental, expressive, and identity oriented activities. Rather than exclusively
orienting itself toward material distribution, ACT UP uses and targets cultural resources as well.
What, this examination asks, dies ACT UP do on the cultural terrain? What light does its
activity shed on the question of “newness”? How can a study of this group contribute to an
understanding of the shifts in the nature of social movements and in the nature of the social
world in which they operate (39)? That even an apocalypse can be made to seem part of the
ordinary horizon of expectation constitutes an unparalleled violence that is being done to our
sense of reality, to our humanity. But it is highly desirable for a specific dreaded illness to come
to seem ordinary. Even the disease most fraught with meaning can become just an illness…It is
bound to happen with AIDS, when the illness is much better understand and, much in the way of
individual experience and social policy depends on the struggle for rhetorical ownership of the
illness: how it is possessed, assimilated, in argument and in cliché (29) (Sontag).
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Firstly, there to describe the essays of Gamson to Sontag are on the awareness of this
epidemic of HIV/AIDS. Gamson essay take the argument that it can understand the nature of
social movement towards HIV/AIDS awareness. That group such as the ACT UP uses cultural
resources to examination towards HIV/AIDS can to explain thru Sontag’s essay. It means that
awareness can be exams in throughout Sontag’s essays. The apocalypse of HIV/AIDS have an
horizon of expectation to get people to know more about that is describe in Gamson essays.
Next, in Gamson and Sontag’s readings there it describes the “Newness” of AIDS. They
explain in their own ways but both have the awareness of AIDS epidemic. They explain that
there are people who do know things about AIDS/HIV. Groups such as the ACT UP try to
inform the awareness of AIDS disease to get people more knowledgeable about AIDS. Joshua
Gamson understands what he calls a “historical shift” which can change from year to year and
more people are getting aware of this epidemic of AIDS. ACT UP groups and other groups them
to get people to help them spread the knowledge of AIDS to the people. They do that by having
rally’s to get out information. Then the news has something on the rally’s to get the information
out to the people who have television or smartphone or any other way to help spread the
awareness of AIDS,
In Gamson essay social groups try to aware people throughout the country to make sure
people know about HIV/AIDS. How the historical movement operate when they do explain
things to people as you saw in the video. Awareness of HIV/AIDS to people is important to get
people so they know what to know people. People in today’s world can become more aware of
HIV/AIDS thru both Gamson and Sontag’s essay can help them become more aware thru them
and the frontline documentary.
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In the Act up groups described in Gamson reading to the Sontag’s reading describe that
“Even the disease most fraught with meaning can just become just an illness…” So that means
that the groups of people fighting for a reason to get people to know more about HIV/AIDS.
That the meaning behind the disease to try and stop it. History of the AIDS/HIV can help the
people fighting the illness such as AIDS/HIVS and to help describe what it does to you. Act p
groups protests what Gamson and Sontag’s tries to get the knowledge or awareness to people
such as the history. They bring the attention to the group of ACT Up groups to help get people
to read Sontag and Gamson essays. Even if they were written in different years and people they
try to help people know more about AIDS in a different ways.
Apocalypse is any universal or widespread destruction or disaster. HIV/AIDS can be
described to be an apocalypse in both Gamson and Sontag’s essays. Gamson reading there are
passages to describe Sontag’s reading about HIV/AIDs apocalypse. That apocalypse can mean
any epidemic. But, it can describe AIDS/HIV because people do not know that much about and
are slowly getting knowledge of this disease. Third world countries need to know more about
AIDS/HIVS and how it spreads and the history of it in general. They do not know the history of
information cause people who go there needs to spread the word of this epidemic of AIDS/HIVs.
In conclusion with that you can describe Gamson essay with Sontag’s final observation
of her essay “AIDS and Its Metaphors.” That the essays shed a light on the two essays on
describing and comparing the two essays. Awareness between the two essays that you can point
out the awareness the have toward HIV/AIDs in the world when they wrote there essays. Also,
in final consideration of the reading of Gamson and Sontag there is awareness in them even if
they were written years apart from each other.
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Works Cited
Act Up and Occupy/tax wall st./ fight aids. Dir. John Riley. unknown.
Gameson, Joshua. "Silence, Death and the Invisible Enemy: AIDS Activism and Socail
Movement Newness"." Ethnography Unbound Power and resistance in the Modern
Metropolis. n.d. 33-57.
Sontags, Susazne. Aids and its Metaphor. 1988.
unknown. Frontline Documentarty The Age of Aids. 30 May 2006. 17-26 January 2013.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/aids/view/>.
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