The Northeast Popular Culture Association welcomes proposals in the area of Health, Disease and Popular Culture for its hybrid conference to be held from Thursday, October 12-Saturday, October 14, 2023.  Virtual sessions will take place on Thursday evening and Friday mornings via Zoom and in-person sessions will take place on Friday evening and Saturday morning at Nichols College. 

Current Chair: Julia Brown, Stony Brook University, julia.r.brown@stonybrook.edu

This area invites proposals in topic areas relating to health, disease and popular culture. How does popular culture inform our understanding of health and/or disease? How do health/disease narratives permeate popular culture? What implications do such narratives suggest for healthcare broadly or cultural perspectives of health/disease? We welcome proposals from a number of approaches in historical and contemporary perspectives including:

• Social determinants of health discourse including race, ethnicity, class, place, built environment
• Cultural contexts of narratives of illness from patient and health practitioner perspectives in novels, short stories, memoirs, graphic comics, etc.
• Cultural discourses of infectious disease outbreaks, epidemic, pandemic, emerging infectious disease, chronic illnesses
• Promotion of individual health in culture:  diet, exercise, public hygiene, lifestyle
• Food Security and Insecurity as portrayed in media
• Health Policy and portrayals of health and disease in visual and print culture

Proposals will be accepted until August 1, 2023. You can submit your proposal at this link, which will ask the following questions about your proposal:

• Proposal Type (Single Presentation or Panel)
• Subject Area
• Working Title
• Academic Affiliation (if any)
• Abstract (250 words)
• Short bio (50-200 words)