On reflexivity in health/ medical research and writing

Datum
10. April 2025 

Hybrid lab at ASA2025

Lab on ‘On reflex­iv­i­ty in health/ med­ical research and writing’
Thurs­day 10 April, 11:00–12:30
ASA2025 con­fer­ence at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Birminghan

You can attend our ses­sion either in per­son or online

Dur­ing this ses­sion we are invit­ing you to con­tribute by reflect­ing on exam­ples of reflex­iv­i­ty in health/medical writ­ing – where this has been done par­tic­u­lar­ly well and exam­ples of where it has not been done so well. Please come pre­pared to share these thoughts with oth­ers in small break-out groups.

Short abstract:
We seek to bring togeth­er anthro­pol­o­gists and health/medical researchers from UoB to debates such top­ics as decolonis­ing aca­d­e­m­ic lan­guage, reflex­iv­i­ty and cul­tur­al rel­a­tivism in med­ical writ­ing. We will aim for a state­ment on how to conduct/write about research respect­ful­ly and with empathy.

Long abstract:
In the inter­dis­ci­pli­nary sphere of med­ical schools, ini­tia­tives regard­ing work­force inclu­sion and diver­si­ty, decolonis­ing the cur­ricu­lum and, to some extent, the lan­guage of day-to-day aca­d­e­m­ic admin­is­tra­tion, are gain­ing momen­tum. Research teams’ diver­si­ty is often eval­u­at­ed by fun­ders too.

Con­verse­ly, med­ical writ­ing often lacks reflex­iv­i­ty in terms of the researcher’s role, their posi­tion­al­i­ty, or prac­tice. Also, there are few attempts to reflect on how the often ‘priv­i­leged’ health/medical researchers com­ment on the prac­tices of ‘oth­ers’ whose prac­tices do not live up to ‘ideals’ such as those ascribed by WHO. A com­mit­ment to inclu­sion, diver­si­ty and decoloni­sa­tion (IDD) requires com­mit­ment to reflex­ive engage­ment with the project or med­ical inter­ven­tion itself, its impact on par­tic­i­pants and com­mu­ni­ties, our posi­tion as researchers, and the lan­guage used to talk about par­tic­i­pants’ life­ways and prac­tices. Fur­ther­more, despite seek­ing to under­stand par­tic­i­pants, med­ical writ­ing can de-val­ue socio-cul­tur­al prac­tices and mean­ings, treat­ing these as sec­ondary to the human right to health when they are deemed inad­e­quate or ‘unhealthy’.

This lab­o­ra­to­ry will bring togeth­er health/ med­ical researchers from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Birm­ing­ham, med­ical anthro­pol­o­gists, and anthro­pol­o­gists in oth­er fields for an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary exchange, reflect­ing on anthro­po­log­i­cal and medical/health research con­cepts, insights or meth­ods address­ing these issues.

Top­ics for debate include: “is there a need to decolonise aca­d­e­m­ic lan­guage in health/ med­ical research?” „Is it pos­si­ble to talk about reflex­iv­i­ty in med­ical writ­ing?” „Is there a space for cul­tur­al rel­a­tivism in medical/health research?” We aim to draft a strategy/statement tar­get­ing how to conduct/write about medical/health research respect­ful­ly and with empathy.