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Feminist Thinking Seminar Series: Dr Geraldine Fela, ‘Blood Politics: Nurses and Australia’s AIDS crisis’
As was the case across the world, HIV and AIDS devastated communities across Australia in the 1980s and 1990s. In the midst of this profound health crisis, nurses provided crucial care to those living with and dying from the virus. They negotiated homophobia and complex family dynamics and defended the rights of their patients. Yet, as new generations of HIV treatment have transformed the treatment and prevention of the virus, the contribution of nurses and their unions in the crisis years have slipped out of historical view. Drawing on oral history testimony and archival evidence, this talk centres nurses as caregivers and political agents who worked alongside communities affected by HIV to shape Australia’s response to the virus and remake the medical system.
Speaker Details:
Dr Geraldine Fela is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Humanities at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Her research and teaching traverses histories of gender and sexuality, labour, social movements and medicine. Her work examining the role of nurses during Australia’s HIV and AIDS crisis and has appeared in both scholarly and popular outlets. Her first book, Critical Care: Nurses on the Frontline of Australia’s AIDS Crisis, was published by UNSW Press in July 2024. In October 2025, Critical Care was awarded the prestigious Prime Minister’s Literary Award.
Date:
31 October 2025, 14:30
Venue:
Radcliffe Humanities, Woodstock Road OX2 6GG
Venue Details:
Learning Centre (Room 00.018). Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities
Speaker:
Dr Geraldine Fela (Macquarie University)
Organising department:
The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH)
Organiser:
Dr Eleri Anona Watson (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address:
eleri.watson@ell.ox.ac.uk
Hosts:
Dr Eleri Anona Watson (University of Oxford),
TORCH (University of Oxford),
Dr Pelagia Goulimari
Booking required?:
Required
Booking url:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/blood-politics-nurses-and-australias-aids-crisis-tickets-1795575678189?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios&sg=e2403d7fdedec0b32ae4c7454d3dcac8625790f70bfe742
Cost:
Free
Audience:
Public
Editor:
Eleri Watson
