Conference: Transnational Medicines, Mobile Experts, 10/06
Workshop "Transnational Medicines, Mobile Experts: Anthropological
Perspectives on Medicine in and beyond Africa"
Location: University of Florida, Gainesville
Date: October 13-14, 2006
KEYNOTE LECTURE: Prof. John Janzen (University of Kansas): October
12, 2006
WORKSHOP DISCUSSANT: Prof. Susan Reynolds Whyte (University of
Copenhagen)
CALL FOR PAPERS
Medical cultures in a globalized world are increasingly tied into
- and transformed by - transnational circuits of medicines and
medical experts. In Africa, medical practices, objects and ideas
have long been exposed to the interplay of "local" health systems
with medical traditions and materia medica originating outside the
continent. However, with an increased shift of human and financial
resources, and the multidirectional flows of health commodities
and health professionals in the global market economy, there is a
heightened need to understand the complex practices and power
relations which shape the multiple circuits of medicines and
medical experts from, within, and towards Africa.
For the proposed workshop, we seek anthropological contributions
that explore the options and constraints opened up by the flows of
medicines and medical experts across national and continental
borders with regard to the following issues:
* Medicines on the Move: First we want to explore the political
economies, social practices and cultural meanings that shape the
transnational flows of medicines into African countries, as well
as away from Africa to other parts of the world. We are interested
in the question how medical practices and medical substances have
been, or are currently being, brought to and away from Africa and
how medical objects and practices are reinterpreted and adapted in
this process. What are the historical and contemporary
trajectories of the global flows of pharmaceutical, herbal and
religious objects and substances which are used for the treatment
and healing of disease and affliction in transnational contexts?
How are these trajectories embedded in social and cultural
interpretations, transnational migratory processes, political
and/or economic alliances, and the bureaucratic regulations of a
globalized world?
* Experts on the Move: Second, we want to focus on the
transnational movements of medical experts - and the power
relations reflected and mediated by these flows - which are part
and parcel of the reconfiguration of medical landscapes in the
context of a transnationally connected world. We seek
contributions on the movements of religious or 'traditional'
healers as well as of health workers from different African
countries who migrate to Europe, the US, Asia, or to other
countries on the African continent.
How are these movements connected to the discussion on the "brain
drain" and how are they embedded in the individual and collective
biographies of health professionals and medical experts? On
another level, we envision papers on doctors and health
professionals from the "West" carrying out medical research or
public health initiatives in Africa. How are the ethical and
social dimensions of their work connected to the politics of the
global health industry and to the shifts in international health
research (e.g. with regard to the clinical trials carried out by
powerful pharmaceutical companies in resource-poor settings)?
SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS:
Please send your abstract (250-300 words) and a brief statement
about your past and current research projects (100 words) until
June 30, 2006.
Unfortunately, the workshop organizers will not be able to cover
the travel costs of participants.
A selection of the workshop contributions will be published in an
edited volume.
Organisers:
Dr. Hansjoerg Dilger, Dr. Abdoulaye Kane, Dr. Stacey Langwick
(University of Florida, Center for African Studies & Department of
Anthropology)
Contact:
Hansjoerg Dilger
Assistant Professor
Center for African Studies and
Department of Anthropology
University of Florida
email: hdilger@africa.ufl.edu
Page Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D.