William Robertson

WILLIAM J. ROBERTSON, then a graduate student at University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, received a grant in April 2018 to aid research on ‘Screening Sex: Enactments of HPV, Anal Cancer, Gender, and Sexuality,’ supervised by Dr. Eric Plemons. Through twelve months of ethnographic data collection, including participant observation in the clinic and indepth interviews with clinic staff and patients, this project investigates the practices of medical providers and their interactions with patients at a clinic specializing in the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of human-papillomavirus-related anal disease (HPVAD) in Chicago, Illinois, USA. How do the everyday practices of anal cancer prevention at the clinic draw on and reproduce broader cultural norms around sex/gender, sexuality, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and age, and how do these processes shape the production of medical knowledge concerning HPVAD? How do patient-provider interactions around and patient experiences of screening, diagnosis, and treatment of HPVAD shape and reflect cultural representations of gender and sexuality, especially for members of sexual and gender minority populations who experience disproportionate rates of HPVAD? What are the intersectional roles of race/ethnicity, class, and age in these processes? The findings of this clinical ethnography will contribute to anthropological understandings of and theorizing about clinical practice, theories of subjectivity and social identity, anthropology of the body, and expertise and expert knowledge production.