Senior Independent Study Thesis in Sociology

This senior independent study thesis will examine how HIV I AIDS, as a disease, acts as a stimulus for change within Nepalese society. I have focused on two groups of prostitute women in the south western, Terai region of Nepal whose communities I observed in the Spring of 1993. By examining the traditional role of Badi and Deuki women in the larger context of Hindu, Nepalese society, I am able to determine how AIDS can and will alter the behavior of these groups, and eventually their constructs and conceptualizations of sex, sexuality and disease. I have used an ethnographic approach to establish a picture of Nepalese society, and the social structure of which the Badi and Deuki are a functioning part. Theories of structural functionalism and risk behavior are used to determine how and why prostitute women in Nepal will shift their risk behavior with the introduction of the AIDS epidemic to Nepalese society. Development of the structure of Nepalese society and the specific functioning of Badi and Deuki in Nepal is accomplished through the presentation of Nepalese ethnicity, geography, history and religious belief in the literature review. I have used a descriptive method for presentation of data collected at three Badi communities and two Deuki households in far western Nepal. This data was acquired through qualitative study of the five sights and limited interaction with individual members. In conclusion, I have determined through comparative analysis of the data, that AIDS does and will continue to stimulate change of high risk behavior among Badi and Deuki prostitutes in Nepal.