CFP: [20th] Medical Humanites: Health and Disease in Culture

full name / name of organization: 
jennifer tebbe-grossman
contact email: 

PCA/ACA AREA: Medical Humanities: Health and Disease in Culture
POPULAR CULTURE AND AMERICAN CULTURE ASSOCIATIONS
NATIONAL CONFERENCE
New Orleans Marriott
New Orleans, Louisiana
April 8-April 11, 2009

The "Medical Humanities: Health and Disease in Culture" PCA/ACA area examines a wide variety
of topics related to the experiences of human beings pursuing health and
living with illness. Interdisciplinary proposals representing humanities and the arts (e.g.,
literature, history, film, visual arts) or social sciences (e.g., anthropology, cultural studies,
sociology) perspectives through historical or contemporary contexts are welcome. This area
emphasizes the pursuit of humane health care and the exploration of the social and cultural
contexts in which health care is delivered for individuals or specific groups.

Subject areas might include:
         --the portrayal of health care and public policy issues in the
mass media (e.g. health insurance, race and medicine, gender and
medicine, mental health, disability).
         
        --portrayals of chronic diseases (e.g., Cancer, Alzheimer's,
Diabetes, Asthma) in popular media and in literature.

        --the portrayal of global health disease (e.g., AIDS, Malaria,
Tuberculosis, Avian flu) in popular media and in literature
         
        --stories/narratives of illness presented in literature (novels,
short stores, memoirs) written by patients or health professionals
that explore the personal experience of illness.

        --depictions of health professionals in various genres in the context
of the culture of medicine.
         
        --how pharmaceuticals, alcohol, or tobacco are presented in the
mass media and literature.
         
        --historical or recent depictions of infectious diseases and
epidemics, disasters or calamities, in the context of public
health consequences for popular audiences. Especially welcome
are proposals addressing health problems that New Orleans faces in
the context of Hurricane Katrina (Hurricane Katrina as a health disaster;
mass media coverage of health, disease, and Katrina; portrayal of hospital,
clinic, and health professional shortages; representations of such specific
health issues as fears of waterborne diseases; experiences of such
health conditions as skin problems and respiratory illnesses,
diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and mental health problems.
          
        --representations of health institutions (e.g. HMO's, hospitals, neighborhood
drugstores or clinics, government agencies) in the mass media.
        
        --technological innovations and their relation to popular
audiences (e.g., x-rays, robotics in medicine).
        
        --the promotion of health through diets, exercise, domestic or
public health sanitation campaigns, etc.
        

Contributions from interdisciplinary and single disciplines are welcome.
Individual or full panel proposals are considered.

DEADLINE: November 29, 2008. Please send abstracts of 250 words to

Jennifer Tebbe-Grossman
Email: jennifer.tebbe_at_mcphs.edu

Snail Mail Address:

Jennifer Tebbe-Grossman
Professor of Political Science and American Studies School of Arts and
Sciences
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences-Boston
179 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Fax: 617-732-2801
Phone: 617-732-2904

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Received on Fri Aug 15 2008 - 13:38:30 EDT