Theorizing through the mundane: storying transformations in healthcare

Datum
04. Juni – 06. Juni 2025 

Work­shop Depart­ment of Soci­ol­o­gy, Uni­ver­si­ty of Zurich, Switzerland

Work­shop „The­o­riz­ing through the mun­dane: sto­ry­ing trans­for­ma­tions in healthcare”
Depart­ment of Soci­ol­o­gy, Uni­ver­si­ty of Zurich, Switzerland
04–06.06.2025
CfP Dead­line: 01.12 2024

Details:
As a ‘big sto­ry’ con­cern, trans­for­ma­tions in health­care abound: dig­i­tal­iza­tion and the intro­duc­tion of AI, major demo­graph­ic trans­for­ma­tions, antimi­cro­bial resis­tances, soar­ing health­care staff short­ages, the emer­gence of trans­gen­der care, the ‘cri­sis’ of mater­ni­ty and neona­tal care, and ever increas­ing health inequal­i­ties are just a few of them. This work­shop and spe­cial issue respond to such ‘big sto­ry’ con­cerns in health­care by the­o­riz­ing through ‘the mundane’.

STS has a long tra­di­tion – with dif­fer­ent begin­nings – of attend­ing to and the­o­riz­ing through ‘the mun­dane’. Think about for exam­ple the mun­dane­ness of infra­struc­tur­al work (Bowk­er and Star 1999), the fleet­ing­ly sub­tle ‘here-and-now’ (Ver­ran 1999), the every­day­ness of mar­gin­al­iz­ing ‘invis­i­ble work’ (Star/Strauss 1989) and Latour’s doorstop­per (Johnson/Latour 1988). More recent­ly, it has been cen­tral to ‘care stud­ies’ and ‘main­te­nance and repair stud­ies’ marked through an atten­tion to ‘dai­ly life matters’
and ‘tin­ker­ing’ (Mol et al. 2010), ‘exno­va­tion’ (Mes­man 2008), ‘every­day ethics’ (Pols 2023), the eas­i­ly deval­ued as ethico-polit­i­cal com­mit­ment (Puig de la Bel­la­casa 2011), and over­looked sit­u­a­tions that take place in inter­stices of rou­tine and break­down (Denis et al. 2015).

In this work­shop and spe­cial issue, we are draw­ing upon and extend­ing these rich STS accounts on ‘the mun­dane’ to empir­i­cal­ly inves­ti­gate, think about and exper­i­ment with how STS schol­ars can relate to and inter­vene in ‘trans­for­ma­tions’ in health­care. After, or in addi­tion to, the ana­lyt­i­cal sen­si­tiv­i­ties and con­cerns that have been devel­oped in the care debate (Lindén and Lydahl 2021; Mol, Moser, Pols 2021; Mar­tin, Myers, Viseu 2015; Puig de la Bel­la­casa 2011) and the field of val­u­a­tion stud­ies (Dus­sauge, Helges­son, Lee 2015), which have dom­i­nat­ed research on health­care in STS over the past decade, the spe­cial issue seeks to – empir­i­cal­ly, ana­lyt­i­cal­ly, and polit­i­cal­ly – take the next step. ‘The­o­ris­ing through the mun­dane’ offers a ver­sion of STS that stays respon­sive to the ways we are liv­ing, dying and car­ing for bod­ies and dis­eases, and their trans­for­ma­tions, in the first half of the 21st cen­tu­ry; it offers an STS that trans­forms with and through these ways now, here, and in the future.

The work­shop and spe­cial issue wel­comes papers with an empir­i­cal focus on health­care in the large sense. The con­tri­bu­tions will explore ques­tions such as:

– What counts as ‘mun­dane’ in par­tic­u­lar sit­u­a­tions, sites, prac­tices of healthcare?
– How does an atten­tion to ‘the mun­dane’ allow us to trans­form ‘big sto­ries’ about cur­rent trans­for­ma­tions in healthcare?
– How does ‘the mun­dane’ allow us to attend to modes of liv­ing and dying well?
– How to stay atten­tive to asym­met­ri­cal con­fig­u­ra­tions and the non-inno­cence of ‘the mundane’?
– How does the lens of the mun­dane trans­form and extend STS theorizing?

The work­shop will take place from the 4th to the 6th June 2025 at the Depart­ment of Soci­ol­o­gy, Uni­ver­si­ty of Zurich. Par­tic­i­pants need to sub­mit a paper draft before­hand, which will be dis­cussed dur­ing the work­shop. On the third day, we will engage in
alter­na­tive for­mats (walk­ing, writ­ing, etc.) to think through the mundane.

The spe­cial issue will be based on the work­shop and sub­mit­ted to a major STS jour­nal (cur­rent­ly envis­aged S&TS).

If this speaks to you and you are inter­est­ed in sub­mit­ting a con­tri­bu­tion to the work­shop and spe­cial issue or only to the spe­cial issue, please send an abstract of no more than 250 words before the 1st Decem­ber 2024 to: theorising_through_the_mundane@etik.com
If you have fur­ther ques­tions, do not hes­i­tate to con­tact us. We are look­ing for­ward to receiv­ing your contribution.

Time­line:
2024 Decem­ber 1: Open call for con­tri­bu­tions closes
2024 Decem­ber 31: Deci­sions of edi­tors on who will par­tic­i­pate in work­shop and/or SI & com­mu­ni­ca­tion of deci­sion to applicants
2025 Begin­ning May: Sub­mis­sion of paper draft for workshop
2025 June 4–6: Work­shop in Zurich (day 1 & 2 for dis­cus­sion of paper drafts, day 3 with alter­na­tive for­mats for think­ing through the mundane)
2025 Sep­tem­ber 30: Sub­mis­sion paper to a major STS jour­nal (cur­rent­ly envis­aged: S&TS)