2022 Health Humanities Consortium Virtual Conference
Spaces of/for Health Humanities
March 25-27, 2022
CFP:
Co-hosted by the Center for Health Humanities, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences; the Center for Literature and Medicine, Hiram College; and the Health, Medicine, and Society Program, Lehigh University
What are the spaces of and for the health humanities? The COVID-19 pandemic has radically altered our experience of space, from the isolated spaces of quarantine to the overburdened spaces of the health care system, from the physical spaces where risk is produced and mitigated to the virtual spaces constituted by digital technologies. Travel bans, lockdowns, and vaccine and mask mandates have animated debates about whether, how, and whose bodies may inhabit public space, while demographic data renders apparent the uneven and inequitable distribution of resources and risk. The increased turn to virtual environments for education, health care, and communication has allowed for an expansion of access in some respects and exacerbated inequalities in others. In the age of social distancing, e-learning, and telehealth, how are the health humanities grappling with questions of spatiality, and how can we create accessible and equitable spaces—both literal and metaphorical—for engagement moving forward?
The 2022 Health Humanities Consortium Virtual Conference seeks to investigate the meanings and uses of space for health humanities scholarship, praxis, and pedagogy. They invite submissions that consider the physical and social spaces of health, as well as those that speak to the spaces of the health humanities as a field. Along with the clinic and the classroom, what spaces—material, theoretical, disciplinary, institutional, public, political—do, or should, the health humanities occupy? What translations or transformations can occur between and among its milieux? What or who gets to claim space or take up space? As they look forward to the future of their field, for what or for whom should they hold space or create space? Given the modality of this year’s conference, they are particularly interested in submissions that seek to leverage the virtual presentation space in mindful, creative, and engaging ways.
Some possible topics:
- Marginality and liminality
- Decolonizing practices
- Private and public
- Phenomenology of space
- Geopolitics and global public health
- Environmental health and health disparities
- Built space and accessibility
- Mapping and tracking
- Spaces of practice and research: undergraduate, graduate, clinical
- Gap between theory and practice
Deadline: October 31st, 2021
Expected notification date: Late December 2021
Overall conference format:
Presentations will be grouped into 75-minute concurrent slots over the course of three days. Daily conference activities will begin late morning and finish late afternoon (EST).
Submission guidelines:
They seek proposals in the form of 250-word (max) abstracts for paper presentations, creative presentations, flash presentations, panels, or workshops. An individual can submit and participate in no more than two proposals. All presenters must register for the conference.
Details of presentation formats:
- Paper/creative presentations:
Individual presenters will have 15 minutes to present content not previously published, followed by a Q/A of approximately 10 minutes. They expect to group 3 presenters per 75-minute slot.
- Flash presentations:
Individual presenters will have 5 minutes to present content not previously published. If slides are used, presentations are limited to 3 slides. 5 additional minutes are allotted to a Q/A per presentation. They expect to group 7 flash presentations per 75-minute slot.
- Panels:
Panel presentations consist of 3-4 participants engaging a focused theme from diverse perspectives. One of the participants will also moderate and facilitate discussions among panelists and with audience members. Panel presentations will be allotted a 75-minute slot.
- Workshops:
The primarily aim of a workshop is to provide instructional content in an interactive manner. They can consist of multiple presenters. Workshops will be allotted a 75-minute slot.
Please submit your proposal here.
For further information, please email: 2022HHC@gmail.com