The Culprit
Abstract
"The Culprit" is a piece of creative non-fiction describing the impact HIV/AIDS has on a family unaware of the manifestations of the virus/syndrome. "The Culprit" is a story about parents with HIV who believe that they can procreate and birth children free from the virus. "The Culprit" hopes to raise this awareness through creative and literary advocacy using the short story.
Proposal Summary
This presentation proposes that the use of creative nonfiction in "The Culprit" to discuss a serious subject such as HIV/AIDS is an innovative strategy that employs description and food metaphors to describe the related deaths of HIV victims to AIDS. It is not empirical research and provides no statistical findings. Instead, the work presents the real faces of HIV/AIDS through the descriptive deaths of characters. The work is innovative because it provides students in the writing class with an opportunity to discuss their experiences with relatives who have passed away from "The Culprit" (experiential learning) and the descriptive content provides students with events and scenes that they emulate and analyze in writing (mimesis/analysis). The use of description and food metaphors allow students to practice their descriptive and metaphorical writing as well (literal/figurative thinking and writing). The objectives are clear with respect to the use of literature to enhance learning outcomes in the area of challenges to understanding the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Relevance And Significance
Family and Community Literature (fiction, creative nonfiction, and nonfiction) can be used as an approach to help families and communities develop and enhance approaches to help adults, youth, and children understand the what, when, where, how, and why of HIV/AIDS. Agencies responsible for the welfare of children also have an ethical role in using literary approaches to inform family and community members about the ways HIV can be contracted and prevented. Advocacy Through literature, writers can advocate for the end to HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination. Far too often, not enough is done with respect to educational initiatives, specifically the abilities of family and community members to read literature about HIV prevention, ways HIV can be contracted, and services that assist with testing and care. Literature in its various genres can be used to advocate for the ethical treatment, care, and support for people living with HIV or for those dying from AIDS.
Session Format
Presentation Session
Keywords
Cottage Cheese, Viral, Virile, Tears, HIV/AIDS, Festered Cherries, Child Protective Services, Blood, Varicose Veins, Libido, Culprit, Chicken Liver, Scarlet Letter, Blood Clot, Lup Chong, Contaminated, Guacamole
Location
Room 210
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Batten, Victoria, "The Culprit" (2016). 9th Annual Rural HIV Research and Training Conference (2014-2019). 1.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/ruralhiv/2016/2016/1
The Culprit
Room 210
"The Culprit" is a piece of creative non-fiction describing the impact HIV/AIDS has on a family unaware of the manifestations of the virus/syndrome. "The Culprit" is a story about parents with HIV who believe that they can procreate and birth children free from the virus. "The Culprit" hopes to raise this awareness through creative and literary advocacy using the short story.
