full name / name of organization:
PCA/ACA AREA: Medical Humanities: Health and Disease in Culture
POPULAR CULTURE AND AMERICAN CULTURE ASSOCIATIONS
New Orleans Marriott
New Orleans, Louisiana
April 8-April 11, 2009
The "Medical Humanities: Health and Disease in Culture" PCA/ACA area examines a wide variety
of topics related to the experiences of human beings pursuing health and
living with illness and how these experiences are portrayed in cultural discourse.
Interdisciplinary proposals representing humanities and the arts (e.g., literature, history, film,
visual arts) or social sciences (e.g., anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, print or electronic
journalism) perspectives through historical or contemporary contexts are welcome. This area
emphasizes the pursuit of humane health care and the exploration of the social and cultural
contexts in which health care is delivered for individuals or specific groups.
Subject areas might include:
--the portrayal of health care and public policy issues in the
mass media. Health care stories of patientsâ€™ experience of disease; stories of
health professionals conducting research or working with patients.
--how stories of chronic and infectious diseases (including global perspectives)
are told in popular media and in literature.
--narratives of illness presented in literature (novels,
short stores, memoirs) written by patients or health professionals
that explore the personal experience of illness.
--how pharmaceuticals, alcohol, or tobacco are presented in the
mass media and literature.
--historical or recent depictions of infectious diseases and
epidemics, disasters or calamities, in the context of public
health consequences for popular audiences. Especially welcome
are proposals addressing health problems that New Orleans confronts in
the context of Hurricane Katrina.
--representations of health institutions (e.g. HMO's, hospitals, neighborhood
drugstores or clinics, government agencies) in the mass media).
--technological innovations and their relation to popular
audiences (e.g., x-rays, robotics in medicine).
--healing in non-western societies; alternative care in
the United States.
--the promotion of health through diets, exercise, domestic or public
health sanitation campaigns.
Contributions from interdisciplinary and single disciplines are welcome.
Individual or full panel proposals are considered.
DEADLINE: November 30, 2008. Please send abstracts of 250 words to
Professor of Political Science and American Studies School of Arts and
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences-Boston
179 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
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Received on Wed Sep 10 2008 - 16:29:00 EDT