The Nigerian Health Historians Network would like to invite you to participate in our seminar on Traditional Medicine in Africa.
Speakers and topics are:
Spiritualism and Healing in African Traditional Medical Practice in the 21st Century- Dr Obafemi Jegede, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan
Religious Faiths: An Historical Discourse on its Role on Traditional Medicine in Africa– Dr Akinmayowa Akin-Otiko, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of African and Diaspora Studies, (IADS) University of Lagos.
Date &Time: Aug 11, 2023, 5pm to 6.45pm Nigerian Time
Call for Papers African Contributions to Global Health Concluding conference of the SNSF Sinergia Project Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS), Abidjan
12-14 September 2023
African countries have always been the site of medical and health innovations – be it in terms of vernacular bodies of knowledge on health and healing, novel health policies and practices, clinical research and trials, innovative health insurance schemes, or epidemics control measures, among many others. However, scholarly and policy discourse on innovation and the broader theme of global health still tends to see lower-income countries as adapting new developments from the West, often with some delay. The interdisciplinary Sinergia project ‘African Contributions to Global Health’,1 funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), has been challenging these unidirectional models and their underlying assumptions. Based at three different Swiss research institutions, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and the University of Basel, the members of our consortium have explored questions of health-related knowledge circulation – and noncirculation – from various fields of public health, urban planning, and history. We examine bodies of Knowledge, practices and applications that were designed for improving healthcare in Africa but have become relevant to questions of health globally or have the potential to do so. At the same time, we highlight that ‘learning from the South’ must mean more than transplanting quick and cheap technological fixes to serve societies in the global North. With this concluding conference, the project seeks to debate and refine its research results, and to stimulate and expand ongoing discussions on Africa’s role in the production of health-related knowledge, public health policy, and medical innovation. We invite contributions by researchers from various disciplines and career stages, as well as by health professionals and policy experts. The conference will commence on the morning of 12 September 2023 at the headquarters of the CSRS in Abidjan. During the two and a half conference days (until the afternoon of 14 September), the contributors will present and discuss their findings with the audience in thematically organised, interdisciplinary panels. The conference will be held in English. A limited number of travel grants are available.
To propose a paper, please submit an abstract (maximum 500 words) to Kai Herzog (kai.herzog@unibas.ch) by 31 March 2023. We will get back to you with our decision by 21 April. For more information on the project, its themes, and partners, please consult our website www.globalhealthafrica.ch. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us. Julia Tischler (Project PI) and Kai Herzog (scientific coordinator) University of Basel
1 See Danelle van Zyl-Hermann, Tanja Hammel, Christian Burri, Jérôme Chenal, Günther Fink, Akuto Akpedze Konou, Eric Nébié, Doris Osei Afriyie, Vitor Pessoa Colombo, Jürg Utzinger & Julia Tischler (2022): Examining African contributions to global health: Reflections on knowledge circulation and innovation, Global Public Health, DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2022.2118343 for an overview of the project.
‘Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, & that is an act of political warfare.”—Audre Lorde
As in other parts of the world, across the African continent, a variety of pathways to health and healing are available for those who fall ill or want to ensure wellbeing. The landscape of health and wellbeing is vast and caters to myriad experiences. However, dominant perceptions of healthcare in Africa portray it either in terms of failure, disrepair, chaos and disappointment, or as agentic creative refashioning under such circumstances. Little attention is paid, within scholarly research, to the joy that accompanies pursuing or achieving health and wellbeing.
The Southern and Eastern African Medical and Health Humanities network (SEAMHH), a regional network of Medical and Health Humanities Africa (MHHA) is hosting an interdisciplinary symposium: “Finding Joy in Healthcare in Africa”. The symposium is the first of many engagements, which will be led by our partners, the Malawi Medical Humanities Network (MHHN) in collaboration with The Art of Health (South Africa). This inaugural event is devoted to how joy is considered in the provision, rituals, practices, behaviour, and interventions that accompany healthcare. The symposium will focus on temporal perspectives—past, present and future—that engage how healthcare practitioners, health systems and people seeking healthcare in Africa approach issues of joy, trust, confidence, or comfort at individual, familial, community or national levels. The aim is to challenge the now-taken-for-granted idea that health and healthcare systems are sources of trauma and a site for saviourism. Instead, we encourage a critical and/or creative reconsideration of the dynamic concepts of care, wellbeing and health-seeking behaviour.
In this symposium, we invite artists, activists, health practitioners and academics to re-imagine health and healthcare in Africa. The symposium offers mixed formats and will include workshops, academic papers, discussion forums and two keynote addresses.
Please send your expression of interest for participation to findingjoyconference@gmail.com by Wed. 4 August 2021. The event will introduce key themes to be further explored in our forthcoming ‘Finding Joy’ research, which focuses on developing practical tools that aim to make the healthcare experience more positive across various health sectors.
SEAMHH is preparing a special issue on the theme, which we plan to submit to British Medical Journal – Medical Humanities. We anticipate that the completed special edition will launch in June 2024.
For its third edition, Hamwe Festival organizes a short story contest in collaboration with Kigali Public Library (KPL). We will be seeking short stories written in English or in French, about life of individuals and communities in the era of COVID-19. Writers from 18 to 30 years old from all countries are invited to participate.
With this contest, we wish to highlight stories that showcase how health equity and other areas of social justice have been exacerbated during this global crisis and how the current pandemic has affected the lives of individuals and communities. The contestants may choose from a range of topics including access to care, the impact of isolation, age as a social determinant of health, the pandemic consequences on communities’ social fabrics, gender disparities, education, inter-species relationships, social movements, and conflict management etc Deadline: 12 September 2021
The Society of Malawi Journal Vol. 74 no. 2, 2021: Call for Papers
In this special edition, we are seeking contributions on inspirational women in Malawi, who come from many walks of life, and have shaped our world in a variety of fields. We are especially seeking stories of the underrepresented, unacknowledged and understudied women who have made a substantial impact on our culture. These women are farmers, politicians, teachers, preachers, artists, journalists, disruptors, human rights activists, community organisers, engineers, doctors, fundraisers, musicians and everything in between. We especially welcome interrogations and provocations that enable debate and dialogue around prescient issues surrounding these women and the way they have broken ground, inspired and changed the course of history.
The journal will be national in scope and focus on all time periods. These are women who exist in our folklore, history and present. A sample (but not definitive) list of ideas includes: • Who was Mrs Ida Chilembwe? • The legend of Makewana • Traditional birthing assistants • Rural women bankers • Modern feminism and street activism • Traditional healers and modern doctors • Women of the 2020 Cabinet • The Kwithu Women’s Group of Mzuzu • Senior Chief Theresa Kachindamoto • Activists like Emmie Chanika, Martha Kwataitane and others
This special edition will introduce a spectrum of essays that will eventually lead to a full book on influential Malawian women, which will be published in late 2022. Both the special journal and the planned book will help fill a gap in our understanding of the forces and people who helped shape our world.
We welcome submissions from researchers, scholars and experts across all disciplines and fields of studies. Although we aspire to publish a majority women portfolio, we encourage all people to submit a proposal. Please send complete first drafts of maximum 3000 words and a short biographical note to Chisomo.kalinga@ed.ac.uk by Friday 16 July 2021.
This is an expert peer-reviewed journal and book project and will comprise of a Malawi-led guest editorial board to oversee the process from review to print. We expect to publish the journal in November 2021.
The Special Edition of the Society of Malawi Journal will be edited by David Stuart Mogg (Honorary Editor, Society of Malawi Journal), John Lwanda (Guest Editor), Chisomo Kalinga (Guest Editor) and David Bone (Guest Editor).
