ATLAS Speaker Series: GerShun Avilez (ARHU)
South African Narratives of Wellness
Also available on Zoom. Light refreshments will be served. Please register here (for both in person and Zoom attendance).
Abstract: In this talk, GerShun Avilez of the University of Maryland will offer an overview of his research as it pertains to South African literature and history. Specifically, he will discuss two lines of inquiry in his work: (1) mental health legislation and (2) the public rhetoric surrounding HIV. From these two vantage points, he will demonstrate how the realm of literary production provides insight on state and popular understandings of health in South African life. In charting the historical and medical discourse surrounding mental health and HIV/AIDS in South Africa in the late 20th century, the talk will show how the literary texts under consideration re-imagine what wellness means in contemporary South Africa.
Bio: GerShun Alvilez is an Associate Dean for Academic Affairs within the College of Arts and Humanities, the Frederick Douglass Center for Leadership Through Humanities, and English Professor at the University of Maryland.
