Extended Call for Papers for ‘Embodied Voices: Phenomenological, Hermeneutical, and Psychoanalytic Approaches to Health‘. Deadline is now 24 January 2020.
Embodied Voices: Phenomenological, Hermeneutical, and Psychoanalytic Approaches to Health
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, United States
March 20, 2020 – March 21, 2020
The conference will be held on Saturday, March 21. Friday, March 20, sees panel discussions with invited speakers.
This conference is being jointly hosted by Duquesne Graduate Students in Philosophy (GSIP), Duquesne Women in Philosophy (D-WiP), and Duquesne Minorities and Philosophy (MAP).
Extended Call for Abstracts – Deadline now 24 January 2020.
We invite abstracts for papers that look at how health and disease have been treated in phenomenology, hermeneutics, and psychoanalysis, and how these fields may help to improve upon the current methodologies employed in medicine. Medicine is taken here more broadly to mean the art of healing or of understanding various human conditions or ways of being alive (e.g., disorders, injuries, disabilities). Traditionally, Western medicine presupposes a strictly biological account of the body, largely ignoring other existential features of human life and thereby actually restricting its understanding of the body. Furthermore, it seems as though a certain flaw in Western medicine is its inability to admit a hermeneutical self-understanding of the patient into its diagnosis and treatment methods. Phenomenological approaches to the body are quite different in that they take the lived body and its diverse and complex experiences into account. Hermeneutical and psychoanalytic approaches are also different in that they introduce an interpretive element into their epistemological framework.
Medicine and the concept of health have historically been used to stigmatize and disenfranchise women, people of color, people with disabilities, people with mental illnesses, LGBTQIA+ people, and other people considered to be “abnormal.” The concepts of illness, health, and disease and the practice of medical diagnosis have historically been used as tools for expanding and perpetuating oppression of women and minorities. As such, we particularly encourage papers that consider how phenomenological, hermeneutical, and psychoanalytic approaches to the concept of health can serve as a means for enabling women and minorities to have their voices heard and contribute to the various social justice movements of the twentieth century and beyond.
Ultimately, then, how might the incorporation of embodied voices—whether this means giving an account of one’s illness, injury, or disability—widen, enrich, and improve our breadth of knowledge regarding human health and well-being in general, and how might giving those voices a platform also contribute to the philosophy of medicine in particular?
Keynote Speaker: Gail Weiss (George Washington University)
Subtopics/Areas of Research:
> Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, and Psychoanalysis
> Concepts of Health, Illness, and Disease
> History and Philosophy of Medicine
> Race, Ethnicity, and Critical Race Theory
> Disability, Mental Illness, and Disability Studies
> Sex, Gender, and Women’s Studies
> Sexual Orientation, Sexuality, and Queer Theory
> Gender Identity, Intersexuality, and Transgender Studies
> Reproductive Care
> Gerontology, Ageing, and Ageing Studies
> Psychiatry, Psychopathology, and Mental Health Diagnosis
> Public Health Education and Ethics
> Dietetics and Food Studies
> Death and Dying
> Genetic Therapy
> Biohacking, and Distinguishing Between Enhancement and Treatment
> Environmental and Animal Ethics
> Ecopsychology and Ecophenomenology Movements
Submission Process:
Please submit an abstract (maximum of 500 words) to [email protected] by January 24, 2020. Please prepare all submissions for blind review. Include all identifying information either as a separate cover sheet or in the body of your email. Identifying information should include the paper title and author’s name, email address, and institutional affiliation. Abstracts will be reviewed within approximately one week of that date.
Selected submissions will be allotted a presentation time of 15–20 minutes.