Blake Scott Wins the 2003 Richard Ohmann Award for his Article on HIV Testing

ORLANDO, Nov. 19, 2003 -- UCF Assistant Professor of English Blake Scott recently won the 2003 Richard Ohmann Award for his article "Extending Rhetorical-Cultural Analysis: Transformations of Home HIV Testing." The award is given to the article in College English (Volume 65, Number 4, March 2003)--the flagship journal of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)--that makes the most significant contribution to research, theory, or pedagogy in English Studies. The award will be presented at the NCTE annual convention in San Francisco on 21 November.

Scott's article explains how cultural studies can extend traditional rhetorical analysis to account for broader conditions of possibility, map shifting connections and power relations, and intervene in material-discursive effects. After examining traditional approaches to the rhetoric of science, the article illustrates a hybrid approach through a study of the home HIV testing controversy.

The article came out of the research for Scott's book, published earlier this year, titled Risky Rhetoric: AIDS and the Cultural Practices of HIV Testing (Southern Illinois University Press). In addition to providing a cultural history of HIV testing in the United States, this book explains how faulty arguments about testing have promoted unresponsive and even dangerous testing practices for so-called normal subjects as well as those deemed risky.

Scott's current research projects include a collection on cultural studies approaches to technical communication research and pedagogy and a book tentatively titled Prescribing Policy: The Rhetoric and Transnational Politics of the Pharmaceutical Giants. This latter book will use rhetorical theory and theories of globalization to examine the pharmaceutical industry's shaping of domestic and international health care and trade policy. The book's case studies will include debates over a Medicare prescription drug benefit, the reimportation of drugs from Canada, the drug industry's role in the war on bioterrorism, and the drug industry's efforts to block other countries from acquiring cheaper AIDS drugs.

For more information about Blake Scott or his research contact him at 407-823-0268 or bscott@mail.ucf.edu.

DATE
November 19, 2003

CONTACT
Blake Scott
English Department
407-823-0268
bscott@mail.ucf.edu

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LINKS
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Critera for Award