IDST 124: Pandemics Final Exam
ACTUAL UPDATED QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT ANSWERS
How did the clinicians in the 5B ward of the San Francisco General Hospital strive to
overcome the effects of stigma for their AIDS patients? - CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅The
clinicians would hold their patient's hands to show the public that AIDS is not spread through
physical touch, throw parties to give them human interaction to raise their spirits, and treat
them with kindness by sitting and listening to their stories
In the documentary 5B, why was human touch such a controversial part of medical care with
AIDS patients? According to those interviewed, why was it so important? - CORRECT
ANSWERS✅✅It wasn't known at first whether or not AIDS was spread through physical
touch, so a lot of healthcare workers were afraid to touch the patients without PPE. Human
interaction is what connects people, so when someone feels like they are cut off from the rest
of the world against their own will, why would they ever want to overcome the disease?
Who did the documentary position as primary antagonists to the work of care on the AIDS
ward? What were their arguments against the practice of care on the ward? - CORRECT
ANSWERS✅✅The primary antagonists were the surgeon and government officials who
were afraid of AIDS and disregarded those who didn't want to use PPE. Why should they not
use PPE when the worker is exposed to blood or internal fluids? Why must they touch them
when AIDS is unknown?
What methods did Steinberg use to investigate his questions about testing for HIV in
Lusikiski, South Africa? - CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅Ethnographic Research
Steinberg lived with their communities, allowing the people he met to tell their stories instead
of being structurally interviewed. He became someone who wanted to understand rather than
enforce his beliefs upon them
What is colonialism? How is the history of colonialism related to Steinberg's choice of
research methods? - CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅Colonialism: overtaking of an area and its
people, essentially forcing their viewpoints upon them
, Steinberg learns that he doesn't want the people he interacts with to be way of him because of
historical colonialism, so he becomes a "background character" and listens to the people and
let them guide the conversations
Who are the main characters in the Three Letter Plague? How are they important for the
narrative? - CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅Sizwe: tells his story about why he's afraid to get
tested for HIV
Steinberg: MSF member and tries to understand the culture and beliefs surrounding HIV
testing
Hermann Reuter: doctor who helps treat those with HIV/AIDS, but doesn't understand those
who refuse to be tested
What does Hermann Reuter think about Steinberg focusing his book on Sizwe's perspective
about whether to get tested for HIV? Why does Steinberg think that figuring out the cultural
logic shaping Sizwe's perspective on testing is important enough to be the central focus of his
book? - CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅Reuter believes that the central focus of the book should
be the people who are making a difference and getting tested to convince those who have not
been tested yet. Steinberg believes that Sizwe's perspective will open the eyes of Westerners
about why Africans are afraid of white people and their medical methods
Give two examples of when Steinberg realizes his own biases in how he has responded to
Sizwe or his community. How does Sizwe push Steinberg to recognize his own biases? -
CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅1) Steinberg laughing at Sizwe's beliefs of white men trying to
take over them with the vaccines, and Sizwe responds that if they already did it once, why
won't they do it again
2) Steinberg writes about how Sizwe's cousin's fence is only knee height, but Sizwe said that
comment made his cousin sound like a fool because a knee-high fence doesn't do much work
What is the idea of reflexivity in anthropology? How is this concept relevant to Steinberg's
understanding of his interactions with Sizwe? - CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅Reflexivity:
individual deeply reflects on the interactions between themself and another person with a
different culture to understand where miscommunication might have risen
Steinberg acknowledges his biases & analyzes every single interaction he has
ACTUAL UPDATED QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT ANSWERS
How did the clinicians in the 5B ward of the San Francisco General Hospital strive to
overcome the effects of stigma for their AIDS patients? - CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅The
clinicians would hold their patient's hands to show the public that AIDS is not spread through
physical touch, throw parties to give them human interaction to raise their spirits, and treat
them with kindness by sitting and listening to their stories
In the documentary 5B, why was human touch such a controversial part of medical care with
AIDS patients? According to those interviewed, why was it so important? - CORRECT
ANSWERS✅✅It wasn't known at first whether or not AIDS was spread through physical
touch, so a lot of healthcare workers were afraid to touch the patients without PPE. Human
interaction is what connects people, so when someone feels like they are cut off from the rest
of the world against their own will, why would they ever want to overcome the disease?
Who did the documentary position as primary antagonists to the work of care on the AIDS
ward? What were their arguments against the practice of care on the ward? - CORRECT
ANSWERS✅✅The primary antagonists were the surgeon and government officials who
were afraid of AIDS and disregarded those who didn't want to use PPE. Why should they not
use PPE when the worker is exposed to blood or internal fluids? Why must they touch them
when AIDS is unknown?
What methods did Steinberg use to investigate his questions about testing for HIV in
Lusikiski, South Africa? - CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅Ethnographic Research
Steinberg lived with their communities, allowing the people he met to tell their stories instead
of being structurally interviewed. He became someone who wanted to understand rather than
enforce his beliefs upon them
What is colonialism? How is the history of colonialism related to Steinberg's choice of
research methods? - CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅Colonialism: overtaking of an area and its
people, essentially forcing their viewpoints upon them
, Steinberg learns that he doesn't want the people he interacts with to be way of him because of
historical colonialism, so he becomes a "background character" and listens to the people and
let them guide the conversations
Who are the main characters in the Three Letter Plague? How are they important for the
narrative? - CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅Sizwe: tells his story about why he's afraid to get
tested for HIV
Steinberg: MSF member and tries to understand the culture and beliefs surrounding HIV
testing
Hermann Reuter: doctor who helps treat those with HIV/AIDS, but doesn't understand those
who refuse to be tested
What does Hermann Reuter think about Steinberg focusing his book on Sizwe's perspective
about whether to get tested for HIV? Why does Steinberg think that figuring out the cultural
logic shaping Sizwe's perspective on testing is important enough to be the central focus of his
book? - CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅Reuter believes that the central focus of the book should
be the people who are making a difference and getting tested to convince those who have not
been tested yet. Steinberg believes that Sizwe's perspective will open the eyes of Westerners
about why Africans are afraid of white people and their medical methods
Give two examples of when Steinberg realizes his own biases in how he has responded to
Sizwe or his community. How does Sizwe push Steinberg to recognize his own biases? -
CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅1) Steinberg laughing at Sizwe's beliefs of white men trying to
take over them with the vaccines, and Sizwe responds that if they already did it once, why
won't they do it again
2) Steinberg writes about how Sizwe's cousin's fence is only knee height, but Sizwe said that
comment made his cousin sound like a fool because a knee-high fence doesn't do much work
What is the idea of reflexivity in anthropology? How is this concept relevant to Steinberg's
understanding of his interactions with Sizwe? - CORRECT ANSWERS✅✅Reflexivity:
individual deeply reflects on the interactions between themself and another person with a
different culture to understand where miscommunication might have risen
Steinberg acknowledges his biases & analyzes every single interaction he has
