News

We are inviting further contributions of max 2000 words that address questions of:

• social solidarity and moral blaming
• living a life in social and/or physical isolation
• unequal biosocial and/or psychological vulnerabilities
• political-economic implications for healthcare infrastructures
• historically contingent forms, possibilities, and risks of governmental intervention
• and a host of other themes related to the Corona pandemic whose understanding will benefit from a (medical) anthropological perspective.

The contributions may range from theory- or ethnography-based articles to more personally tinged reflections in the form of a think piece. They can be in English or German. Pictures, drawings, small videos etc. are welcome (please provide captions and copyright information)!

Please send your contributions to medizinethnologie@gmail.com. We are very much looking forward to your submissions!

Best wishes,

Hansjörg Dilger, Dominik Mattes, Ehler Voss, Martina Gockel-Frank, Clemens Greiner, Christine Rath

(on behalf of the “Witnessing Corona” editorial team)

How do we shift our epistemological habits of differentiating phenomena into binary opposites, such as body and mind, nature and culture, tradition and modernity, or biomedicine and traditional healing? Recent analytical approaches in the field of (mental) health are based on ontological perspectives that place emphasis on the relations between and the mutual co-constitution of actors and entities that are otherwise considered discrete and bounded elements of the social world. These approaches include, for instance, the “ecology of mind in health and illness” (Kirmayer 2015); “eco-psychiatry” (Chowdhury and Jadav 2012); “eco-centric self” (Kirmayer et al. 2009); “affective arrangements” (Slaby et al. 2017) or “digital ecologies” in youth mental health (Fullagar et al. 2017). Drawing from Gregory Bateson’s framework of an ecology of mind (Bateson 2000 [1972]; 1979), many of these approaches stress the inherent connections between the embodied minds of human beings and “nature” including the environment and non-human beings. Bateson’s ecology of mind itself redefines epistemology as knowing how to look for patterns that connect the living world as a series of formal and abstract relations. In this workshop, we wish to further experimentally explore these ideas with a particular interest in the intersection of (mental) health and traditional healing [… more].

We invite contributions that address questions including – but not limited to – the following:

– How do we connect minds, bodies, social and ecological relations, and economies
in order to formulate a broader understanding of (mental) pathologies as ecopathologies?

– What form do the political interests and power relations constituting a
therapeutic field as “traditional,” “modern”, or “local” assume?

– Which factors affect the extent to which governmental and non-governmental
actors secure (and market) resources that preserve the health of their
communities?

– How do human and non-human entities interact in ecosystems of (mental) health
and healing traditions in and across the `Global South´ and `North´? What kinds
of new political, economic and contingent limitations or possibilities affect these
entities and their relations with one another?

– What are the possible configurations of ecologies of mind in a region where
diverse therapeutic traditions meet and compete with each other?

– How can we analyze these ecologies not only in terms of power that maintains
the status quo or results in systematic disruption of human, animal and plant lifeworlds,
but also in terms of productive power that fosters thriving healing
economies?

We seek ethnographic case studies from any part of the world as well as theoretical essays that address one or more of the above-mentioned themes. In addition to conventional textual narratives we welcome multi-modal presentations such as photo-essays, posters, body performances, video installations etc. Please mention whether you need additional space or technical equipment when you submit your abstract. Please submit your abstract (300 words max.) and a bionote (100 words max.) by 1 March 2019 to nasimaselim@zedat.fu-berlin.de and cmeier@zedat.fu-berlin.de. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by 15 March 2019.

Members of the Work Group Medical Anthropology are warmly invited to present their ongoing research (even if unrelated to the workshop theme) in a separate session of the workshop. Please also submit your abstract and bionote by 1 March 2019.

Full Call for Papers here.

Human health and well-being are closely contingent upon economic ideologies and political dogmas, and health professionals as well as policy makers in all parts of the world have long contended about how to organize equitable health care. Historically, both excessive neoliberal agendas and socialist processes of enforced communization have had disastrous effects on affected people’s physical and mental health. And more recently, nationalist-oriented actors push for drastic cutbacks of international (development) aid and prioritize service provision for particular populations within ‘their own’ countries, thus exacerbating unequal access to health care ‘at home’ and abroad. Such different approaches are often presented as being without alternative, i.e. as nonnegotiable in face of previous failures and specific political and financial constraints.

We invite papers that ethnographically explore how such logics of lacking alternatives are created, conveyed, defended, and (in)validated. What are the implications for the structuring of health systems, practices and ethics of caregiving, involved social relations and moral normativities, and individual experiences of suffering? How do such logics relate to the notion of health (care) as a fundamental human right and public good? What are the consequences in terms of the commodification of health and the (re)distribution of responsibilities for its maintenance and promotion? Which disparities regarding access to therapeutic means and innovation do they tackle but also engender? We further wish to attend to the sites and workings of resistance to such forms of discursive and practical closure: Where and how are respective logics contested and practically levered out? How and to what effect do patients, health practitioners, and policy makers maintain their openness to think and act alternatively in their endeavor to sustain and support their own and others’ health and well-being?

Full Call for Papers here.

The department of Social and Cultural Anthropology invites applications from candidates who specialize in the field of medical anthropology. We expect applicants to have international visibility, fieldwork experience and substantial publications on empirical subjects that complement the existing specialities at the Department. Teaching responsibilities include courses at the BA-and MA-level in „Social and Cultural Anthropology“, „Cultural Studies“ and „World Society and Global Governance“.

Invitation for applications

Die Stelleninhaberin bzw. der Stelleninhaber soll die Bereiche Medical Anthropology in Forschung und Lehre vertreten. Wir erwarten von den Bewerberinnen und Bewerbern internationale Sichtbarkeit, außereuropäische Feldforschungserfahrung und einschlägige Publikationen zu empirischen Forschungsfeldern, die zu den Schwerpunkten des ethnologischen Seminars passen. Zu den Aufgaben der Lehre gehört die Ausbildung in den BA-und MA-Studiengängen „Ethnologie“ sowie Lehre in den Integrierten Studiengängen „Kulturwissenschaften“ sowie „Weltgesellschaft und Weltpolitik“.

Ausschreibung

Wir möchten Sie herzlich zum nächsten thematischen Workshop der AG Medical Anthropology nach Münster einladen. Wie in den vergangenen Jahren soll der Workshop zunächst AG-Mitgliedern die Gelegenheit bieten, ihre laufenden Forschungsprojekte aus allen Bereichen der Medizinethnologie vorzustellen.

Der thematische Schwerpunkt der Veranstaltung wird dann aber auf dem Thema ‚Well-Being‘ unter Bedingungen des Krieges bzw. der Gewalt, Flucht und Migration liegen. Die Beiträge können beispielsweise die Kategorisierung und Behandlung psychischen, körperlichen, sozialen, und emotionalen Leidens thematisieren; strukturelle Rahmenbedingungen der Gesundheitsversorgung oder (möglicherweise konfliktive) ontologische Annahmen in Bezug auf Krankheitsbilder und Heilungsformen hinterfragen; oder spezifische gesundheitsrelevante Institutionen und Politiken sowie deren Konsequenzen für das ‚Well-Being’ betroffener Menschen in den Blick nehmen.

Die ethnologische Auseinandersetzung mit prekärem Leben im Kontext von Flucht und Migration nach Europa soll des Weiteren in Konversation mit in der Flüchtlingshilfe praktisch engagierten Berufstätigen und Freiwilligen erfolgen. Wir möchten daher nicht nur akademisch verortete Sozial- und Kulturanthropolog_innen zu dem Workshop einladen, sondern insbesondere auch Sozialarbeiter_innen, Psychiater_innen, Therapeut_innen und Vertreter_innen anderer Professionen, die im Flüchtlings- und Migrationsbereich tätig sind. Der intensive Austausch zwischen den Vortragenden aus diesen unterschiedlichen Berufsgruppen und gemeinsame Überlegungen zur Praxisrelevanz medizinethnologischer Forschungs- und Denkansätze sind das zentrale Anliegen des Treffens.

Vorträge können gerne in der Form ‚klassischer’, themenorientierter ‚Konferenzpapers‘ gehalten werden. Berichte über das Engagement verschiedener Institute für Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie bzw. Ethnologie im Kontext von Flucht und Migration sind aber ebenso erwünscht. Schließlich freuen wir uns auch über Beiträge, die in selbstreflexiver Weise ethische Dilemmata, praktische Schwierigkeiten oder emotionale Herausforderungen in Forschungs-, Behandlungs- und Beratungssituationen fokussieren.

Wir schlagen vor, Papers in Tandems von Co-Teilnehmer_innen zu präsentieren. Schriftliche Versionen der Beiträge sollen außerdem vor dem Treffen zirkuliert werden, um die Vorbereitung von Kommentaren und einen möglichst tiefgehenden Austausch der Teilnehmer_innen über Fachgrenzen und Berufsgruppen hinweg zu ermöglichen. Deutsche und englische Workshop-Beiträge sind gleichermaßen willkommen.

Vorläufiges Programm:

Freitag, 5. Mai 2017: 14.00-18.30 Uhr
Anreise bis 14.00 Uhr
14.00-18.30 Uhr: Programm Teil (Vorstellung laufender Forschungsprojekte)
Anschließend gemeinsames Abendessen

Samstag 6. Mai 2017: 9.30-18.00 Uhr
9.00-16.00 Uhr: Programm Teil II (Prekäres Leben: Krieg, Flucht, Migration)
16.00-18.00 Uhr: Mitgliederversammlung der AG Medical Anthropology

Zeitrahmen:

Bitte schicken Sie Ihr Abstract (maximal 250 Wörter) bis zum 15. Februar 2017 an Johannes Zwilling (j_zwil01@uni-muenster.de).
Anmeldung zum Workshop bis zum 31. März 2017.
Vortragende und Teilnehmer_innen des Workshops müssen nicht Mitglied in der AG Medical Anthropology sein.

Finanzielle Unterstützung:

Je nach Anzahl der eingehenden Abstracts möchten wir eingeladenen Vortragenden (nur AG-Mitglieder)
ohne eigene Finanzierungsmöglichkeiten bei Bedarf einen Reisekostenzuschuss
zukommen lassen.

Increasing human mobility and worldwide migration processes of varying scope are provoking new experiences and practices of belonging related to the body, health care, and well-being. This is significant not only for those leaving their home countries and arriving elsewhere as newcomers, but also for the members of so-called ‘host communities’ who are confronted with social and material transformations of their life worlds resulting from large-scale human migration. In this workshop we aim to address how (embodied) belonging is re-imagined, negotiated, contested, practiced, constrained, and (failed to be) achieved in the context of such societal encounters, and which are the effects on involved people’s well-being and health care. In exploring health-related transformations in people’s lives caused by dis- and re-emplacements, we propose embodied belonging as a provisional term to connect social, moral, and political-legal aspects of belonging with its affective and sensorial dimensions. Workshop papers may address but are not restricted to the following questions: How does belonging matter in the suffering, (health) care and well-being of migrants and refugees, but also the homeless, disabled, and otherwise socially disadvantaged among the ‘host communities’? Which are the effects of particular politics of belonging and corresponding administrative regimes on institutional setups of health care provision? What are the consequences with regard to people’s capacities to maintain and re-create a sense of belonging and to sustain their well-being? What is the role of religious and ‘alternative’ healing practices in achieving and sustaining embodied belonging and well-being? How are the body and the senses entangled in perceptions, disruptions, and re-creations of belonging? How are (in)capacities to belong and respective consequences for people’s well-being shaped along lines of social division such as gender, age, religious affiliation, ethnicity, and legal status?

Workshop organizers: Claudia Lang and Dominik Mattes

Please send a text of max. 1.200 characters (incl. spaces) and also a short version of max. 300 characters (incl. spaces) directly to the workshop organizers.

Email: dominik.mattes@fu-berlin.de

Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 15-02-2017

Webseite der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Völkerkunde: LINK

Vollständiger Call for Workshops: PDF

Propose paper

Furthermore, we welcome papers addressing methodological and ethical issues related to emotions. How are emotions present in our work, how do we work with them and embody them in our anthropological practice?

Topics for possible papers/panels can include, but are not limited to:

– Emotions and methodology

– Painful emotions, suffering, trauma etc.

– Joyful emotions, friendship, well-being etc.

– Cultural, ontological differences and emotions

– Emotions aimed toward others: care, compassion and worrying

– Embodied emotion

– Politics of emotions

– Emotion discourses and narratives

Format of the meeting

The conference will have a peer-review structure. We believe this structure is of great value since everyone will have the opportunity to receive feedback and engage with each other’s work, making the encounters most productive. There will be two parallel group sessions, containing eight presentations each. They will include paper presentations of ten
minutes followed by 20 minutes of discussion. Participants will be asked to submit their papers ahead of time so that everybody can read them beforehand. Furthermore, we will assign ‘presenter tandems’. This means that someone else will present your paper and comment on it, and you will be asked to comment on your tandem partner’s paper. This has proven to be a productive format that guarantees each presenter will receive well-founded feedback and typically initiates a constructive discussion. Infos about workshops and a keynote lecture will follow in due time.

Registration fee

There will be a small registration fee of 10 Euros per person to be paid upon arrival to cover expenses for snacks, coffee, etc. We are currently exploring funding possibilities. Unfortunately we will not be able to refund speakers’ travel costs and strongly encourage you to search for funding options in your own institutions.

Time line

We invite you to submit an abstract of max. 300 words. After the notification of acceptance you will be requested to submit your complete paper, which should be no longer than 5,000 words (excluding references).

Abstract submission at mays.easa@gmail.com
Deadline: February 1st 2015
Notification of acceptance: 1st March 2015
Deadline for paper submission: 1st May 2015

We are looking forward to reading and hearing about your research projects and welcoming you in Amsterdam!

MAYS Coordinators

Natashe Lemos Dekker (Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research)
Judith Schühle (Freie Universität Berlin)

Keynote speaker: Prof. Ruth Prince (University of Oslo & Cambridge University)

Please submit both a long version (1,200 characters including spaces max.) and a short version (300 characters including spaces max.) of your abstract to dominik.mattes[at]fu-berlin.de and hansjoerg.dilger[at]berlin.de.

Deadline: 15 February 2015