The SAMLA conference is taking place in Atlanta, GA on Thursday, November, 6 – Saturday, November, 8, 2025 at the Wyndham Atlanta Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center. The proposed panel dovetails directly with this year’s conference theme “Knowledge.” Even as the past few years have highlighted death and the value of health, there still remains a lack of knowledge and studies concerning the reality of these experiences for some people, especially marginalized groups. This panel is open to all perspectives and seeks to explore death, health, and/or their intersections in the humanities and beyond. In alignment with SAMLA 97, it also “confronts the growing dehumanization and systemic marginalization of humanities studies,” and draws attention to health humanities. Some questions the panel addresses include: what are some ways literary and cultural texts broaden our understanding of health, mortality, and wellness or living life well? How do narratives and ideologies within our environments, communities, and society shape and influence perceptions around dying, illness, and healing? How does our field engage with wide concerns such as lack of access to quality healthcare, lack of affordability for medications/prescriptions, etc.? Beyond pessimistic views, how do we face the reality of death or that everyone will die? What role does intersectionality play in people’s health and death experiences? Ultimately, the panel seeks to broaden people’s enlightenment on death and health and engage in advancing solution-oriented mindsets and pathways.

While not limited to these topics, the panel is open to papers that underscore representations in literary and cultural texts on the following:

Death, dying, and grief

Health (e.g., physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, etc.)

Commodification of death

Sickness/Illness

Wellness, well-being, and healthiness

Death studies

Grief studies

Grief memoirs

Healthcare industry

Death care industry and death work

Death practices and traditions

Memorialization and commemoration

Sick care

Prescription drugs

Pharmaceutical companies

The growing field of health humanities

Please submit a 250 to 300-word abstract and a brief bio before May 31, 2025 to the panel chair Dr. Robin Brooks at rob88@pitt.edu. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the same email address.