[Discussion] CONF.- Diaspora and Disease Conference, March 31-April 1, SOAS, London

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

CONF.- Diaspora and Disease Conference, March 31-April 1, SOAS, London

Diaspora and Disease

a conference to be held at:

The School of Oriental and African Studies
University of London
Thornhaugh Street
London WC1 0XG
United Kingdom

March 31st-April 1st

Convened by:

Parvathi Raman (SOAS)
Ian Harper (University of Edinburgh)

The aim of this conference is to bring about discussion between those
conducting research in Diaspora Studies and the Anthropology of Public
Health and Medicine.

The movement of people has long been associated with the spread of
disease and infections. In light of this, we are concerned with the role
of medical knowledge and practices in relation to Diaspora communities,
and how these discourses have contributed to the perception of diaspora
populations by host society, and helped shape wider questions of
belonging and citizenship. We aim to look at these questions in their
historical context, both in their continuities and discontinuities,
emphasising the importance of this to an understanding of current
practices.

Circuits of migration, and connected medical practices are taking new
forms, where, on the one hand migrants are still associated with disease
and pollution, but migrants are also increasingly staffing the
infrastructure of western public health services. At the same time, the
west can no longer lay claim to superior biomedical provision. These
shifts signal new directions in the relationship between medical
discourse and diasporic others, giving rise to a contradictory language
of migrants being seen as both a threat, and a solution to the health of
the nation.

Registration =A325/ Students and Senior Citizens Concessions =A310

For further information and registration forms contact:

Dr Parvathi Raman
E-mail: pr1@soas.ac.uk

Mrs Nim Nijjer
E-mail: nn2@soas.ac.uk



Distrib. by: Central-Eurasia-L - Announcement List for Central Eurasian
Studies