Fwd: Workshop 2002 (fwd)

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Mon, 25 Jun 2001 15:17:52 +0200

Aref Abu-Rabia <aref@b...>

 

Workshop 2002

 

 

HEALTH AND ILLNESS IN MIDDLE EAST SOCIETIES

 

 

 

The Department of Middle East Studies of Ben-Gurion University will

hold

its eighth annual international workshop during the spring of 2002.

 

This workshop focuses on a variety of issues relating to health

and

illness in Middle East societies during the pre-modern and modern

eras.

 

Throughout history, societies have developed a variety of

concepts

regarding illness. Consequently, symptoms that have been accepted as

evidence of illness in one society have been ignored in another. In

this

workshop, we shall explore several aspects of illness, with a strong

emphasis on its social and cultural dimensions. For example, we shall

examine the roles of doctors, healers, midwives, and the para-medical

professions; aspects of hospitals and other sites of healing; and

social

attitudes towards the sick, handicapped and insane. We shall also

explore

how different medical systems perceive, discuss and explain diseases.

 

The workshop will address issues such as the following:

 

_ The interaction between peoples' natural and social environments and

their diseases.

 

_ The ways in which traditional beliefs and practices may conflict

with

scientific medical assumptions, and how social circumstances affect

health

care decisions.

 

_ How disease affects not only the physical well being of the

individual

and his/her family, but also the collective health of the cultural,

social

and economic life of the group.

 

_ How, over time, people have developed etiological theories and

medical

systems to assist the sick in coping with disease and disability.

 

_ How health and illness related behavior is influenced by social

classes,

ethnic and cultural differences.

 

 

 

The workshop will be held in the spring semester of this

academic year (March-June 2002). It will convene once every second

week.

All participants will be expected, each in her/his turn, to present a

paper and submit in advance a tentative, written version to be

distributed

among the other participants. This will enable us to dedicate the

meetings

to discussions rather than to lengthy presentations. Participants from

abroad will be supplied with all paper presented prior to their own,

so as

to enable their fullest involvement in the ongoing discussion.

 

At the end of the semester a symposium will be convened to

provide

a broader forum in which to continue and conclude the workshop.

 

The workshop will welcome scholars from different discipline such

as

anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, history, and medical

sciences.

Proposals (1-2 pages) should include a brief statement of the topic,

and a

description of main sources and methodology, which together explain

how

the proposed paper contributes to the aims of the workshop as outlined

above.

 

The department will offer participants from abroad round-trip

airfare

and lodging. Those residing in Israel will receive a grant.

 

The deadline for proposals is December 1, 2001.

 

Please send proposals and enquiries to:

 

Dr. Aref Abu-Rabia.

 

Dept. of Middle East Studies. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

 

Beer-Sheva 84105 Israel.

 

Tel.:972-8-6472 540/476 .Fax.:972-8-6472 952 E-mail: aref@b...

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