Medical Anthropology in Europe: Shaping the Field

RAI Conference on 1-2 July 2010 at St Antony's College, University of Oxford

Medical anthropology has just as long a history in Europe as in North America. However, European medical anthropologists are often unknown in Britain. One reason is that they often do not write in English or only sporadically. Perhaps, precisely due to the different languages, different medical anthropological perspectives have had time to gain some maturity and develop into sometimes quite distinctive schools. After the first RAI conference on “Medical Anthropology in Britain Today” in September 2007, this second RAI conference will invigorate our own medical anthropological teaching and research by getting to know and interacting with mostly, but not exclusively, European colleagues.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

Thursday, 1 July, 12pm onwards – Registration

Day 1: Thursday 1 July – Shaping the Field (plenary session)

1.30pm Welcome by Hilary Callan, Director of the RAI; Dr Melissa Parker, Chair of the RAI medical anthropology committee (Brunel University); Dr Elisabeth Hsu, local organiser (University of Oxford)

2.00pm Speakers discuss their experience of the emergence of medical anthropology:
Dr Gilbert Lewis (University of Cambridge); Dr. Sylvie Fainzang (National Institute of Health, Paris); Prof Tullio Seppilli (University of Perugia); Prof Sjaak van der Geest (University of Amsterdam); Prof Armin Prinz & Dr Ruth Kutalek (Medical University of Vienna).

5.00pm Roundtable discussion by panellists of the ‘second generation’.

7.30pm for 8.00pm Conference dinner (at the participants’ own expense)

Day 2: Friday 2 July – Current Issues

Each panel begins with a key speaker, followed by short talks by three speakers working in the same area. There is then a discussion.

9.00am Panel One: Medical anthropology and the psychology sciences
Prof Rene Devisch (Catholic University of Leuven).

11.30am Panel Two: Controlling chronic illness: cross-cultural perspectives
Prof Susan Reynolds Whyte (University of Copenhagen).

1.30-3.00pm Lunch

3.30pm Panel Three: Biopolitics, hegemony and Gramsci in medical anthropology
Dr Giovanni Pizza (University of Perugia).

5.30-6.30pm Plenary discussion chaired by Prof Anita Hardon (University of Amsterdam)



The long programme can be found here .

This conference is funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Anthropological Institute.



Registration

Registration: £30.- for salaried staff, £15.- for students

Please follow this link to register for the conference.



Shaping our Science Medical Anthropology, Interdisciplinarity and Public Space

Saturday 3 July
Green Templeton College, Oxford

Young Scholars Workshop on 3 July 2010 at the University of Oxford, Green Templeton College

As medical anthropologists, we have carved a distinct niche in the social sciences. However, the boundaries of this niche are rather malleable in the academic and non-academic worlds. Medical anthropology incorporates scholarship spanning from history to physiology, while practicing within a wide range of situations from academic research to implementing health care policies.

We seek to explore the interdisciplinary nature of medical anthropology from both perspectives of theory and practice:
• To what extent does medical anthropology cross academic disciplines?
• If we should create boundaries, where should these lines be drawn?
• What is the academic identity of a medical anthropologist?
Similar questions can be raised when the anthropologist shifts to practice:
• What is the role of medical anthropologist in society?
• How, if desired, can medical anthropologists contribute to a bettering world?

Practical information at: http://tinyurl.com/MAYS-Oxford-practicaltips
Contact: mays.easa@gmail.com
Printable version of the program can be found here .

This workshop is organized by Medical Anthropology Young Scholars Network of the EASA (European Association of Social Anthropologists) and Oxford University Anthropological Society. This event is sponsored and hosted by Green Templeton College.

Please follow this link to register as an attendee for the workshop.