Call for Papers: International Workshop, "Urban Health in
sub-Saharan Africa", 01/10
Call for Papers
International Workshop, "Urban Health in sub-Saharan Africa"
Point Sud, Bamako (Mali)
January 12-15, 2010
More than 50% of the populations in sub-Saharan Africa are living in urban
settings. Life in the rapidly growing African cities has been associated,
on the one hand, with a range of social, economic, and health problems,
e.g. the presence of poverty and slums in high-density population areas as
well as the spread of epidemic diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and
HIV/AIDS due to urban lifestyles and vulnerabilities. On the other hand,
urban infrastructure has also created favorable conditions for the health
status of populations, e.g. the access to health care which also comprises
more specialized care and treatment (such as the access to antiretroviral
therapy and infertility treatment). Furthermore, in the context of
globalization and modernization the flourishing health sectors of urban
settings have created new opportunities for private medical practitioners,
traditional healers, NGOs, and religious groups to cater to the health
needs of the growing, and comparatively wealthy, middle class societies in
Africa.
This international workshop focuses on the multiple ways in which health
in sub-Saharan Africa has been, and is being, produced, maintained, and
regulated in the context of processes of modernization and globalization.
From an interdisciplinary and historically-informed perspective, it
explores how a wide range of actors and processes have shaped responses to
health and illness under shifting historical conditions (i.e., colonial
and post-colonial politics as well as recent neoliberal reform processes),
and how health risks and vulnerabilities themselves have been produced by
social, political, and economic forces and processes over a longer period
of time. We are looking for paper submissions that address these issues on
the basis of sound empirical research as well as with regard to the wider
theoretical and methodological implications of urban health research. One
or more of the following topical areas should be addressed:
*De/Reregulation of the health sector: The workshop will ask how from the
1980s onwards processes of decentralization and privatization have
affected the reconfiguration of health sectors in African cities and how
policies and politics of deregulation have correlated with the dynamics of
intra- and transnational mobility, as well as with processes of social,
economic, and gender-specific differentiation. Who gets access to the new
medical technologies and treatment possibilities that are being offered
increasingly by private clinics and practitioners? Who benefits from the
health services of the (mostly transnationally funded) NGOs and FBOs which
operate often with regard to specific health problems and, in some cases,
are challenging and partly replacing the health system of African states?
How do the staffs of governmental and non-governmental health institutions
react to these various challenges, and which new alliances and
entanglements between the public and private emerge in the process? What
kinds of vulnerability and inequality are being produced here and how are
they perceived and acted upon by health providers and clients?
*Religious and traditional healing in urban centres: On another level the
workshop examines the (re-)positioning of religious organizations and
traditional healers in the context of an increasingly diverse health care
system. How do processes of commercialization as well as the politics of
"scientific evidence" affect the practices and identity politics of
religious groups and traditional healers? How does the increasing
pluralization of the (Christian and Islamic) religious fields entail a
diversification and hybridization of healing practices, including those of
traditional healers? How does the growing popularity of religious and
traditional healing correlate with the social, spiritual, and moral
uncertainties that have shaped urban lives in the context of globalization
and post-colonial reconfigurations? Which new forms of transnational
collaboration emerge in the multiple attempts of traditional and religious
healers to make their healing practices appealing - and relevant - for the
global therapeutic market? Which potential challenges does this present to
the regulatory powers of national and transnational authorities in the
urban health sectors?
*Mobility and translocality in health-related practice: Finally, the
workshop will focus on the ways in which urban populations themselves have
responded to health- and illness-related challenges and how health-related
decisions and actions are embedded in people's social, economic, and
family networks that often transcend the geographical boundaries of urban
centers. Which strategies and tactics do individuals, families, and larger
social units (e.g., village associations, women's groups, religious
congregations, or health activists) develop in maintaining and/or
re-gaining health? Which techniques of leading a "healthy and good life"
do they employ? Which role do economic and social resources from urban
migrants' rural and/or transnational home regions play in urban
populations' quests for health and healing? How are specific forms of
suffering associated with the risks and dangers of living in the city, and
how are such perceptions tied to a more general critique of global
modernity?
We hope to attract paper submissions from different academic disciplines
(anthropology, sociology, urban studies, history and political science,
public health) and with regard to different regions in sub-Saharan Africa.
We explicitly invite junior scholars as well as more advanced scientists
from Francophone, Anglophone, and Lusophone Africa to submit abstracts,
but also look forward to receiving applications from Europe, North
America, and other parts of the world.
The workshop will be organized in collaboration with Point Sud, an
international research center in Bamako, Mali. Travel and accommodation
expenses will be covered by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Application:
To apply for this workshop please send an abstract (max. 250 words) either
in French or English to hansjoerg.dilger@berlin.de and
viola.hoerbst@iscte.pt.
The deadline for the submission of abstracts is July 25, 2009. Full papers
will be circulated amongst participants three to four weeks before the
workshop.
Organized by:
Prof. Hansjörg Dilger, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology,
Freie Universität Berlin
Dr. Viola Hörbst, Centre for African Studies (CEA), Lisbon Universitarian
Institute
Workshop discussants:
Prof. Brigit Obrist, University of Basle, Anthropology
Prof. Guéladio Cissé, Director of the Centre Suisse de Recherches
Scientifiques, Abidjan
Page Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D.