[Discussion] ETHNOBOTANY AND HEALING WAR - CALL FOR PAPERS AND INVITATION FOR PARTICIPATION”

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

ETHNOBOTANY AND HEALING WAR - CALL FOR PAPERS AND INVITATION FOR 
PARTICIPATION”
This session will explore the present day applications and the social 
history of healing with the power of plants, ancient healing practices. 
Traditional versus medical uses of plants. The healing power of plants 
has always been very important for people’s well being, and most of our 
modern medicine is based on traditional knowledge. Healing practices 
with plants and other non-plant materials (e.g. water, mineral, animal 
products) and various techniques are ongoing in many developing 
countries, especially in rural areas, and provide basic health care for 
millions. While this practice is respected, accepted and even in the 
process of revitalization in some countries, in others it is down played 
or seen to be a kind of witchcraft. This session will explore the 
present day applications and the social history of healing with the 
power of plants. Iridology. Master herbalists, family herbalists: is 
consultant herbalism becoming a new profession? What is the healer’s 
role in the modern world? Controversies of folk medicine and modern 
medicine. How can healer’s knowledge be useful for their communities and 
for the rest of the world’s health? What is the role of ethno-botanists 
and anthropologists in studying local healing and healers? What does 
archeology tell us about different approaches to health seeking behavior 
throughout the ages? What are the new controversial issues to be 
explored? Social consequences of the collapse of buildings and other 
man-made accidents will also be examined. Please find updated 
information as regards the meeting at the IFSSH website 
http://www.ifssh.net.
The International Forum for Social Sciences and Health (IFSSH) welcomes 
applications from scholars, administrators, researchers, interested 
parties, international agencies, national and international research 
institutions and students for participation in the 2005 World Congress 
“HEALTH CHALLENGES OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM”. The 2005 World Congress 
aims to realize a universal platform for reflections and forward-looking 
discussions in all important areas that fall under the health social 
science agenda. The world congress will host workshop sessions under the 
following themes: Accidents and disabilities; Adolescent health; 
Bioethics; Bioterror and weapons of mass destruction; Child health, 
development and child rights; Health consequences of war; Communicating 
health knowledge and behavior; Controversies of diet and nutrition; 
Developing economies, migration and emerging health issues; Ecohealth: 
climate change, health consequences of environmental deterioration and 
environmental policies; Ethnobotany and healing; Giving birth: new 
meanings, new statistics; Health and disease in world myths, scripts and 
literature; Health clubs and the new aesthetics of health; Health 
equity; Health social science research methodology; Health sector reform 
and health insurance; Health, medicine and colonialism; Human rights, 
HIV/AIDS and the new epidemics; Infectious diseases; Issues in rural 
health and disease; Life styles; Living with pain; Local traditions of 
healing and shamans; New challenges: smoking, addictions and eating 
disorders; Politics of pharmacueticals; Redefining old age; Reproductive 
health; Social history of health and disease; Social science education 
for health sciences; Sociology of dental health; Suicides and cross 
cultural issues in mental health; The economics of well being; The 
future of hospitals and patient care; The psychology of violence; 
Violence as a public health issue; and Social aspects and prevention of 
world blindness. Please find updated information as regards the meeting 
at the IFSSH website http://www.ifssh.net. We invite you to join this 
interdisciplinary gathering of the experiences and perspectives of 
social scientists and health specialists for a crucial assessment of the 
human condition at the onset of the new millennium.
Prof. Dr. Akile Gürsoy
IFSSH Secretary General
Head, Department of Anthropology
Yeditepe University
Congress Correspondence:
2005 IFSSH Congress Center
Department of Anthropology
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Yeditepe University
Kay?s,dag(?,34755 Istanbul TÜRKI.YE
Tel: (+ 90) 216-578 07 27)
Fax: (+ 90) 216-578 08 99)
E-mail: ifssh.2005@yeditepe.edu.tr
ifssh@ifssh.net
http://www.ifssh.net