News & Views: conferences
Society of Ethnobiology 31st annual conference - SMA members interested in ethnomedicine and ethnopharmacology may be interested in attending the conference, April 16-19, 2008, Fayetteville Arkansas.
http://www.ethnobiology.org/conference/upcoming.html
International People's Health University at the US Social Forum
Thousands of activists, community organizers, people of faith, and youth are convening in Atlanta, Georgia from June 27 through July 1, 2007 for the first ever United States Social Forum (USSF). This week-long gathering is an opportunity for learning, networking, strategizing, energizing campaigns, and developing leadership among those who have a vision for a better world.
Hesperian is participating in the US Social Forum as a leader of the People’s Health Movement (PHM). In 2003, PHM’s international steering committee asked Hesperian to begin organizing a People's Health Movement in the U.S. to engage more U.S. groups in this powerful global effort. As part of our outreach to encourage diverse groups to put health issues on their social change agendas, PHM is organizing a week-long International People's Health University at the USSF. For four hours every morning, health researchers and advocates from PHM internationally (including Hesperian staff) will present a series of lectures, discussions and action-planning sessions centered around the theme of "Promoting Health for All.
Topics will include:
Healthcare is a human right not a commodity to be bought or sold
Socio-economic, racial, and gender inequalities as barriers to health and healthcare in the United States
Connections between health, trade, agriculture, and war
The global movement for equal access to health and healthcare
Practical skills for transforming knowledge into action on health issues
Similar courses have been held in Quito, Ecuador in 2005, and recently in Vancouver, Canada, and have proven to be successful forums for health activists to share experiences, build upon their skills, and learn more about –and build bridges between-- health issues and broader issues of equality and justice. More information here.
“Dermatological Care for All – A Basic Human Right”
The International Institute of Social Medical and Anthropological Sciences, in collaboration with San Gallicano Institute of Rome, the newborne Community Dermatology International CDI, is organizing the second edition of the congress that will take place in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa – Mekele, November 6 -9, 2007.
View full announcement (pdf) here.
Famine and Mass Violence
Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH
September 21-23, 2008
Famine and mass violence frequently go hand in hand. Unfortunately, scholars of famine and scholars of mass violence often deal with different questions resulting in a wide lacuna in research and the methodology for analyzing connections between famines and violence. Famine specialists mostly deal with socioeconomic questions, with people as economic subjects, with the working of markets and speculation, food distribution, or deficiencies of state intervention. Entangled in the availability vs. entitlement debate, they care less for power relationships or war-related situations, although famines often occur during wartime or civil conflict. Genocide experts view certain famines as state-organized. Such scholars are interested in motivations of violence, lack of relief efforts, escape prevention, or special policies victimizing refugees. They may miss out on the participatory dimension of famines: social and economic networks, profiteering, or family relations. This conference seeks to bring together both famine experts and genocide specialists to engage in a dialogue with each other, first during the conference and later in a collective volume resulting from the meeting
packing your bags and heading off? let us know about it in advance!