DDD17: Politics of Death
Konferenz
Bi-annual conference of the Association for the Study of Death and Society (ASDS)
DDD17: „POLITICS OF DEATH”
27–30 August 2025
University of Utrecht (Netherlands)
CALL FOR PAPERS AND PANELS
The Death, Dying and Disposal (DDD) Conference is the bi-annual conference of the Association for the Study of Death and Society (ASDS). The next edition will be hosted at the University of Utrecht (Netherlands) and online from Wednesday 27 to Saturday 30 August 2025. For the upcoming DDD17 conference, we invite sessions that explore the broad topic of the Politics of Death.
Despite appearing as a universal biological event, death is and has never been neutral. Instead, it is deeply entwined with issues of (in)equality, access, and power dynamics. In today’s world, death is perhaps more politicized as it ever was before. Wars, environmental crises, global migration patterns, and failing states bring death close to our homes. At the same time, technological, digital, and medical advancements alter our approaches to dealing with, thinking about, researching, and working with death. Such developments are equally inherently political, both in their origins and their applications.
As practitioners and scholars, how do we navigate the political dimensions of death? How does the political shape our engagement with death? And how can we reflect on and potentially change our own positions within this political landscape?
For more information on the conference theme, please refer to our website: https://ddd17.sites.uu.nl/conference-theme/
We invite scholars and practitioners to submit a proposal for papers, organized panels, roundtables, workshops, or other formats by Saturday 30 November 2024. No exceptions to this deadline are possible.
We encourage proposals in four types of session formats:
Organised panels and individual papers
Panels will be structured in the traditional manner of individual paper presentations. This will be four (4) presentations of 15 minutes back-to-back, followed by a 30-minute discussion on the presentations. All organised panels are thus 90 minutes. The panels will be organized in a hybrid (i.e., including online participants) format, meaning paper presenters can present from home. Discussions will be organized using chat-moderators.
Roundtables
Roundtables of 90 minutes in which no more than five people discuss a particular theme or issue in front of (and subsequently with) an audience. While a roundtable may include short (approx. 5 min) contributions/presentations, the main idea is to create a lively debate, and not to focus on any one or multiple presenter(s). To be able to create such debate, roundtables will not be organized in a hybrid (i.e., including online participants) format.
Workshops
Workshops of 90 minutes are characterised by experimentation, collaboration, interaction and/or improvisation. The aim of workshops is to organise collective activities that are open-ended and cultivate possibilities for surprise, novelty, and learning. Workshops will be designed as interactive, reflexive sessions that prioritise exploration, rather than the discussion of already established research results. To make true collaboration possible and create safe space, the maximum number of persons per workshop is 16 (including workshop convenors). The workshops will not be organized in a hybrid (i.e., including online participants) format.
Other
We welcome you to share your ideas of other possible formats with us. If you would like to suggest a different format and/or are willing to run a session or activity with a different format, please let us know by sending an email to DDD17@uu.nl. The DDD17 selection committee will then decide if and how to accommodate your idea(s).
The Politics of Death
Konferenz
Conference organized by The Association for the Study of Death and Society (ASDS), University of Utrecht
17th biannual DDD conference „The Politics of Death”
The Association for the Study of Death and Society (ASDS)
University of Utrecht
27–30 August 2025
Details:
Despite appearing as a universal biological event, death is and has never been neutral. Instead, it is deeply entwined with issues of (in)equality, access, and power dynamics. In today’s world, death is perhaps more politicized as it ever was before. Wars, environmental crises, global migration patterns, and failing states bring death close to our homes. At the same time, technological, digital, and medical advancements alter our approaches to dealing with, thinking about, researching, and working with death. Such developments are equally inherently political, both in their origins and their applications.
As practitioners and scholars, how do we navigate the political dimensions of death? How does the political shape our engagement with death? And how can we reflect on and potentially change our own positions within this political landscape?
Politics is everywhere; everything is political. It’s woven into every facet of life, shaping how we live, die, and make sense of the worlds in between and beyond. It is the lens through which we address our biggest challenges and seize new opportunities. It shapes our sense of right and wrong, framing what we see as moral or immoral. It guides decisions, both consciously and unconsciously, in every setting – from the halls of government to the intimate spaces of home. It spans formal authority and hidden social power, threading through the spaces we inhabit, the rules we follow, and the symbols we embrace. It exists between people, environments and species, influencing everything from small exchanges to global regulations. In every interaction and institution, there’s an element of politics. Because of this, politics is everywhere, and everything down to the smallest detail is inherently political.
For more information on the conference theme, please refer to our website: https://ddd17.sites.uu.nl/conference-theme/
We invite scholars and practitioners to submit a proposal for papers, organized panels, roundtables, workshops, or other formats by Saturday 30 November 2024. No exceptions to this deadline are possible.
We encourage proposals in four types of session formats:
Organised panels and individual papers
Panels will be structured in the traditional manner of individual paper presentations. This will be four (4) presentations of 15 minutes back-to-back, followed by a 30-minute discussion on the presentations. All organised panels are thus 90 minutes. The panels will be organized in a hybrid (i.e., including online participants) format, meaning paper presenters can present from home. Discussions will be organized using chat-moderators.
Roundtables
Roundtables of 90 minutes in which no more than five people discuss a particular theme or issue in front of (and subsequently with) an audience. While a roundtable may include short (approx. 5 min) contributions/presentations, the main idea is to create a lively debate, and not to focus on any one or multiple presenter(s). To be able to create such debate, roundtables will not be organized in a hybrid (i.e., including online participants) format.
Workshops
Workshops of 90 minutes are characterised by experimentation, collaboration, interaction and/or improvisation. The aim of workshops is to organise collective activities that are open-ended and cultivate possibilities for surprise, novelty, and learning. Workshops will be designed as interactive, reflexive sessions that prioritise exploration, rather than the discussion of already established research results. To make true collaboration possible and create safe space, the maximum number of persons per workshop is 16 (including workshop convenors). The workshops will not be organized in a hybrid (i.e., including online participants) format.
Other
We welcome you to share your ideas of other possible formats with us. If you would like to suggest a different format and/or are willing to run a session or activity with a different format, please let us know by sending an email to DDD17@uu.nl. The DDD17 selection committee will then decide if and how to accommodate your idea(s).
Reproductive Uncertainties and Imagined Futures in the Anthropocene
Konferenz
STS-CH Conference in Zurich, Switzerland
Panel: „Reproductive Uncertainties and Imagined Futures in the Anthropocene”
STS-CH Conference this coming September in Zurich
Panel Description:
Uncertainty permeates every aspect of human reproduction. Humans have tried to control this biological uncertainty through various technoscientific, and sociopolitical measures as illustrated through the vast landscape of assisted reproductive technologies, birth control technologies and related dynamic regulations surrounding their use in the Global South and North. In light of this, following Jasanoff and Kim’s (2015) formulation of ‘sociotechnical imaginaries’ and Ginsburg and Rapp’s (2020) reframing using the „cultural work of reproduction” as „reproductive imaginaries”, we ask what role reproduction-related technologies such as but not limited to IVF, birth control and sterilization techniques, play in the constitution of particularized contextual ‘reproductive imaginaries’?
Using reproductive uncertainty as our starting point, in this panel, we ask how these reproductive things and people „hold together” to create or resist change. Given that, reproductive goals change considerably, both at individual and state level, how are ‘reproductive imaginaries’ informed and in turn inform individual and collective organizing around lived and future lives- for e.g., in the child free and pro-life movements with respect to the climate crises? How do people involve ‘reproductive imaginaries’ to make sense of their worlds when impacted by the diagnosis of infertility? What salvationary or harmful aspects of these reproductive technologies are highlighted to bring certain ‘reproductive imaginaries’ to fruition while others are downplayed? And what are the effects of such envisioned futures, both at state and individual levels? We invite papers across disciplines that contribute to this discussion on the entanglements of state, individual and reproductive technologies in producing „reproductive imagineries”.
Panel Details:
🔹Abstract Deadline: May 9, 2025
🔹Max Abstract Length: 300 words
🔹Submit here: Submission Portal
🔹Full Panel Abstract: https://express.converia.de/frontend/index.php?page_id=47357#panel-125457
CfP for the conference of the Society for Social Studies of Science 2025
Konferenz
CfP for a STS conference in Seattle
CfP for the panel at the next conference of the Society for Social Studies of Science 2025
Seattle
3–7 September
‘Temporalities of bodies, technologies and their entanglements in the experience of disability and/or chronic illness’.
Chronic illness and disability have become a privileged place for technological intervention. Both are characterized by the deployment of technological devices that aim to mitigate, compensate for, or even prevent and slow down the loss of capacities, as well as alleviate or limit symptoms. In this context, a varied array of technologies that differently act on or intervene in bodies and places are introduced in people’s lives: technological devices that are implanted in the body (e.g. insulin pumps and deep brain stimulation), technological devices that are attached to the body (prostheses and orthoses) and/or technological devices that are connected both to the body and to a particular place (telecare and dialysis equipment; exoskeletons).
Regarding this ‘technological care’ (Lancelot & Guchet, 2023), research in STS and empirical philosophy of technology has mainly focused on technological use and appropriation, including the difficulties thereof. However vital and essential these technologies may be in sustaining people in daily life, attention has scarcely been paid to their fragility and people’s resulting vulnerability when they malfunction, wear and tear, break and/or thus can no longer be used or have to be adjusted and/or used differently (Oudshoorn, 2020).
These material and existential disruptions and constraints call for inquiring about the entanglements of different temporalities of chronic living and disability: of bodies adjusting to chronic illness, disability and/or to technological care; of the technologies themselves (from their development to their everyday use, adaptation, malfunctions and maintenance) and the socio-material infrastructures that support them; and of the relations between them. We invite contributions that address, empirically and/or conceptually, technological care and its temporalities.
Deadline of the call for abstracts:
- January 31, 2025
– Notification of acceptance:
– March 15, 2025
– 4S 2025 in-person conference:
– September 3–7, 2025
Abstracts (250 words max) should be submitted on the 4S website: https://bit.ly/3BtgXPh
Medical Anthropology Europe Conference 2025 Vienna: Redefinitions of Health and Well-being
Konferenz
CfP for Medical Anthropology Europe Conference 2025, Vienna
Medical Anthropology Europe Conference 2025 Vienna: „Redefinitions of Health and Well-being
Call for Panels and Roundtables is now OPEN
Disability within Environments: disability studies perspectives
Konferenz
CfP for Postgraduate Conference
Call for abstracts: Centre for Disability Studies Postgraduate Conference 2025
“Disability within Environments: disability studies perspectives”
17th September 2025
The University of Leeds Centre for Disability Studies (CDS) Postgraduate Researchers invite you to submit an abstract for our international hybrid conference on the 17th September 2025.
This conference will focus on how disability operates within different environments, for example environments of academia, education, politics, music and arts, green spaces, disaster and/or war zones. Considering recent national and international backlash against equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), military conflicts, humanitarian crisis and the global climate crisis, it is timely to address how disabled people are affected in these different environments and how environments might be reshaped and reimagined to create more sustainable, just, and inclusive futures. The chosen breath of the topic encompasses all types of environments that exist in our contemporary world with the aim to highlight intersectional, inter‑, and transdisciplinary possibilities and challenges.
This international hybrid conference will offer an opportunity for PGRs to share their work, receive constructive feedback, and engage in interdisciplinary discussions. Participants will benefit from networking, skill development, and academic exchange. We intend to provide a supportive space to develop community connections and learn about the exciting work fellow PGRs are producing. This event is open to all PGRs at any stage of their researchers and post-doc researchers from across the world.
We welcome a variety of submission formats, including traditional research papers, creative presentations, and practice-based contributions, embracing diverse methodological approaches. We encourage contributions that engage with empirical, theoretical, methodological, or practice-based perspectives not only within disability studies but from an inter- and transdisciplinary perspective.
Some possible themes are:
Inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to disability
Disability and disaster management
Disability in higher education
Disability and green spaces
Disability and creative spaces
Inclusive research practices
We also welcome any of your own topics linked to the broader overall subject!
Please fill out this form which requires a 300-word abstract, a 150-word biographical statement, your institutional affiliation (if applicable), your presentation preference (poster, paper, workshop etc), provisional online or in person attendance, and access needs. Alternatively, if this form is not accessible, please email this information to CDSpostgraduates@leeds.ac.uk.
The closing date for submissions is 18:00 (GMT) 12th June 2025.
Provisional key dates (may be subject to change)
Abstract submission deadline
12th June 2025
Acceptances communicated and registration opens
27th June 2025
Registration closes
15th August 2025
PGR conference
17th September 2025
More information on the submission guidelines and further details of the conference will be updated regularly on https://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/events/pgrconference/
Please send any inquiries to CDSpostgraduates@leeds.ac.uk
We look forward to hearing from you!
Ruby Goodley (she/her); Johanna Knebel (she/her)
CDS postgraduate representatives
ANIMAL-BASED. Historische Perspektiven auf Tiere in Medizin, Wissenschaft und Technik
Konferenz
Jahrestagung der GWMT 2025 in Dresden, Deutschland
Jahrestagung der GWMT 2025 in Dresden: „ANIMAL-BASED. Historische Perspektiven auf Tiere in Medizin, Wissenschaft
und Technik”
Der Vorstand der Gesellschaft für die Geschichte der Wissenschaften, der
Medizin und der Technik e.V. (GWMT) lädt in Kooperation mit der TU Dresden
zu Vortrags- und Sektionsanmeldungen für die siebte Jahrestagung der
Gesellschaft ein. Die Tagung findet vom 24.–26. September 2025 in Dresden
statt und hat das Rahmenthema:
„ANIMAL-BASED. Historische Perspektiven auf Tiere in Medizin, Wissenschaft
und Technik”
Die Zucht, Haltung und Nutzung von Tieren zur Herstellung von Lebensmitteln,
Textilien und Medizinprodukten oder zur Gewinnung wissenschaftlicher
Erkenntnisse sind heute ebenso verbreitet wie umstritten. Aktuell lassen
sich gegenläufige Trends beobachten: Einerseits belegt und unterläuft der
immer häufigere Vermerk „plant-based” auf Produkten aller Art die
Selbstverständlichkeit von „animal-based” im globalen Norden und Westen.
Andererseits begünstigen Wirtschafts- und Wohlstandswachstum in Ländern des
globalen Südens und Ostens eine Ausweitung von Nutztierhaltung und ‑konsum.
Zudem erfahren Wildtiere und ihre Habitate, ihre Rolle bei Zoonosen, ihr
Vordringen in neue Räume oder ihre „Hybridisierung” durch
techno-wissenschaftliche Modifikationen des Genpools verstärkte
Aufmerksamkeit.
Die interdisziplinären Felder der Animal Studies und Multispecies Studies
sind nicht zuletzt durch geisteswissenschaftliche Impulse zum Ort des
Austauschs über mensch-tier-relevante Geschichtsforschung geworden. Im
Rückgriff auf Konzepte der Science Studies der 1980er- und 1990er-Jahre
zeichnen sich auch in der Wissenschafts‑, Medizin- und Technikgeschichte
zunehmend die Konturen einer von Tieren bewegten und belebten
Geschichtsschreibung ab. Die Organisator:innen der GWMT-Tagung 2025 haken
hier ein und laden Forschende aus den Geistes‑, Kultur- und
Sozialwissenschaften sowie aus den Natur- bzw. Lebenswissenschaften dazu
ein, ihre Projekte und Erkenntnisse zur historischen Rolle von
domestizierten, gezüchteten oder auch „wilden” Tieren in den Bereichen
Wissenschaft, Medizin und Technik vorzustellen. Uns interessieren Beiträge
aus allen Epochen und Weltregionen.
Wiederholte Pandemien – die Influenza von 1918, neuere Vogel- und
Schweinegrippen, Covid-19 – erinnern nebst endemischen Zoonosen wie Malaria
an die geschichtsmächtige Koevolution von Tierkrankheiten, Tiergesundheit,
Humanmedizin und Hygiene. Vor diesem Hintergrund sind Forschungen, die dem
One-Health-Ansatz folgen und etwa die Umweltbezogenheit von Tierseuchen in
den Blick nehmen, hochwillkommen.
In der Technik- und Mobilitätsgeschichte seit der Industrialisierung werden
Tiere in ihrem Verhältnis zu Menschen und Maschinen in den Blick genommen.
Dabei interessiert die Co-Agency von Tieren und Menschen bei Arbeitsleistung
und Transport – in Landwirtschaft, Gewerbe, Bergbau, Personen- und
Güterverkehr – bis weit ins 20. Jahrhundert. Aber auch in Antike,
Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit wurde Wissen über Tiere erzeugt, das für die
Wissenschafts‑, Medizin- und Technikgeschichte relevant ist, man denke etwa
an die Arbeitsleistung der Nutztiere, tierische Materia medica oder
Tiermetaphern in den Wissenschaften.
Von Interesse ist auch, wie Mensch-Tier-Interaktionen die Entwicklung
wissenschaftlich-technologischer Messgrößen sowie von Gerätschaften jenseits
von Fahrzeugen und Lastentransport geformt haben und wie tierliche
Eigenschaften und Fähigkeiten im Sinne einer frühen Bionik nutzbar gemacht
wurden.
Ein Desiderat stellt zudem die Auseinandersetzung mit Tieren als
industriell-gewerbliche Rohstoffbasis in der Moderne dar. Ob es um Waltran
als Lampenöl ging, um Rinderhäute für die Lederproduktion oder um Gelatine
für die Lebensmittel- und Fotoindustrie: Solche Verfahren wurden von
ingenieur- oder biowissenschaftlichen, veterinärmedizinischen oder
hygienisch-infektiologischen Forschungen begleitet. Welche Verbindungen oder
Diskontinuitäten ergeben sich hier etwa zu vormodernen „Tierstoff-Gewerben”
sowie zur Jagd nach und Haltung von Pelztieren?
Die Frage nach der ethischen Zulässigkeit einer Ausbeutung tierlicher
Ressourcen sowie die Diskussion über das Konzept des Speziesismus verweisen
auf aktuelle Konfliktfelder, deren historische Dimension auszuleuchten wäre.
Dabei gilt es gleichzeitig zu beachten, dass Tiere nicht nur als Technik und
wissenschaftliche Objekte funktionalisiert wurden. Vielmehr haben sie mit
ihren spezifischen Eigenarten, Kompetenzen und Widerständigkeiten
menschliche Handlungsspielräume erweitert oder eingeschränkt.
Mit solchen Perspektivierungen möchte die GWMT-Tagung 2025 anregen, in allen
Bereichen der Geschichtswissenschaft nach tierischen Leerstellen zu forschen
und diese mit empirisch oder konzeptionell angelegten Studien zu
untersuchen. Leitend könnten folgende Fragen sein:
- Welche Begriffe und Konzepte sind in besonderem Maße dazu geeignet,
historische Mensch-Tier-Verhältnisse in Wissenschaft, Technik und Medizin zu
erforschen?
– Welche Verbindungen und neue Einsichten zwischen Wissenschaft, Medizin &
Technik werden sichtbar, wenn Tiere im Zentrum der Analyse stehen?
– Vermag eine solche Mensch-Tier-Geschichte die Auseinandersetzung mit
übergeordneten Forschungsdiskussionen „Kolonialismus, Postkolonialismus und
Anthropozän” zu erweitern und zu bereichern?
Erwünscht sind Einzelbeiträge und Bewerbungen für ganze Sektionen. Auch
Beiträge, die sich mit der Vormoderne und mit Verhältnissen außerhalb
Europas und Nordamerikas befassen, sind sehr willkommen. Darüber hinaus
können auch Vorschläge für Vorträge und Sektionen, die sich nicht auf das
Rahmenthema beziehen, eingereicht werden.
Einzelvorträge sollen nicht länger als 20 Minuten dauern. Sektionen bestehen
entweder aus vier Vorträgen oder drei Vorträgen mit Kommentar und umfassen
inkl. Diskussion 120 Minuten. Die Abstracts sollen pro Einzelvortrag etwa
eine halbe Seite Länge umfassen; bei Sektionen ist neben den Abstracts der
Einzelvorträge eine kurze Einführung in die Sektion einzureichen. Bei
gleicher Qualität werden Sektionen, die akademische Generationen
überspannen, bevorzugt.
Reichen Sie Vorschläge für Sektionen oder Einzelvorträge bis zum 28.02.2025
über das Online-Einsendeformular auf:
https://www.gwmt.de/veranstaltungen/aktuelle-jahrestagung/ ein.
Bitte beachten Sie: Dies ist eine Präsenztagung; Ausnahmen sind
ausschließlich zum Zwecke der Barrierefreiheit möglich.
Kontakt: Gisela Hürlimann, Florian Bruns und Dorit Brixius, TU Dresden,
gwmt25@tu-dresden.de
Jubiläums-Symposium Pharmaziegeschichte Marburg
Konferenz
Symposium in Marburg, Deutschland
Das Institut für Geschichte der Pharmazie und Medizin wird 60 Jahre alt. Aus diesem Anlass lädt es herzlich ein zu einem Symposium am 12. Oktober 2025.
Final_Flugblatt_Jubiläumsfeier
Birthing, Mothering and othering
Konferenz
CFP for a conference in Lausanne, Switzerland
Anthropological Perspectives on Well-being
Konferenz
Call for Papers for the World Anthropological Union (WAU) 2025 Congress (hybrid)
As part of the „Ageing and Lifecourse” IUAES affiliation, we are pleased to announce that the Call for Papers for the World Anthropological Union (WAU) 2025 Congress is now open! The Congress will take place in a hybrid format—both onsite in Antigua, Guatemala, and online—from November 3–8, 2025. More info here: https://www.waucongress2025.org/call-for-papers/
Anthropological Perspectives on Well-being (Track 13)
Both quality of life and people’s ability to contribute towards meaning and purpose in everyday life are essential in understanding well-being (WHO, 2021). Nonetheless, it has primarily been approached through a biomedical lens, foregrounding physical health and disease prevention. Although there is a growing recognition of the psychological and social aspects of well-being (and, by that extension, health), these aspects remain undermined. At the same time, there have been numerous shifts and continuities with increasing health inequalities in global health governance and health-related knowledge production experienced across the life course. For instance, well-being is increasingly mediated through digital technologies, leisure activities, and consumer markets. To emphasise the deeply embedded nature of well-being and health in cultural, political, and historical contexts, there is a desperate need to probe newer approaches to holistic social and cultural determinants of health and the overall well-being of individuals and populations.
This panel aims to critically engage with medical pluralism, structural inequalities, caregiving practices, and new infrastructures catered to well-being, and biopolitical dimensions of well-being and health. We invite papers that focus on the lived experiences of illness, caregiving, ethical dilemmas in medicine and digital technologies, and the role of the state and markets in shaping well-being and health in contemporary societies. By bringing together scholars working broadly in (but not limited to) Medical Anthropology, this panel aims to foster discussions on how medical cultures, the technological turn, and capital flows shape overall well-being and health outcomes, influence caregiving and create new realities. Overall, we are interested in the intersection of medical anthropology, medical systems and political economy, especially concerning populations in the margins (e.g. ageing populations, disabled bodies, indigenous communities, and others).
This leads us to such important questions, like:
1. How do experiences (structural inequalities and caregiving responsibilities) throughout the life course shape meaning(s) and experience(s) of well-being?
2. Do global health policies reinforce or challenge existing health inequalities (especially in the wake of growing pandemics and epidemics) and their interaction with historical and political contexts in (re)defining medical pluralism?
3. How do digital technologies mediate the experience of well-being among marginalised sections? Does it contribute towards growing social inequalities in healthcare across the world?
4. How do non-medical spaces (leisure, community clubs, online groups) contribute towards improved health outcomes, and what policy implications do they hold for individuals across age groups and societies?
5. What could be the methodological possibilities for understanding lives in growing commodified and marketised ideals of well-being (well-ness industries, self-care markets)?
We look forward to bringing together ethnographic, historical and theoretical contributions from anthropology, sociology, public health, and allied disciplines. Papers addressing regional or transnational dynamics of health and medicine from the Global South are encouraged.
Die Kommentare sind geschlossen.