Theme: Global Health: Rhetorical Transformations in a Time of Crisis
May 25, 2022, Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, Baltimore, Maryland
Dates
- Abstracts due: January 30, 2022 (Deadline Extended)
- Notification of acceptance: February 18, 2022
- Date of preconference: May 26, 2022
Call for Proposals
The COVID-19 pandemic pulled back the curtain on a host of global health crises and issues that need solutions which will prioritize and promote health, wellness, and equity. According to Benatar and Brock (2021), “improving and promoting global health continues to be one of the largest and most important challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century” (p. 1). Thus, for this year’s ARSTM preconference to RSA, we invite you to consider how the rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine relate to, intersect, and influence global health.
The Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH), an organization established in 2008 and comprised of 170 academic institutions and organizations worldwide that are committed to addressing global health issues (CUGH, “About/Mission-Vision,” 2021), define global health as:
“[A]n area for study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide. Global health emphasizes transnational health issues, determinants, and solutions; involves many disciplines within and beyond the health sciences and promotes interdisciplinary collaboration; and is a synthesis of population-based prevention with individual-level clinical care.” ( Merson, Black, & Mills, 2020, p. xxii)
Using this definition as a foundation, it opens conversations that move beyond a strict biological definition of health and invites collaboration and discussion about relationships, how global health is a matrix of issues that intersect and affect one another. For instance, health is embedded within various systems, including communities (Ding, 2014; Gonzales, 2018; Singhal & Dura, 2017), economies (Dingo & Scott, 2012), technologies (Graham & Ghotra, 2021; Walwema, 2020), and academic and professional disciplines. Additionally, global health is related to law, geopolitics, the environment, medicine, and so much more. And when discussing global health, numerous injustices come to light, many uncovered by the recent COVID-19 pandemic, such as racial injustice and inequities in education, healthcare, and the workforce. It is, however, a time for transformation, a time for solutions. Thus, for the 2022 ARSTM preconference, we invite papers that explore scientific, technological, and medical associations regarding causes, solutions, and the importance of solving global health issues.
Possible avenues for this discussion might be found by addressing one of the following questions:
- What are other definitions of global health, and what ideologies are embedded in those definitions? Likewise, how should global health be defined considering its complexity?
- In what ways are national laws, policies, and other conversations regarding health negligent in considering race, culture, gender, and socioeconomic status? What does justice and inclusion look like in terms of global health?
- What social and humane issues are neglected in national and international laws and policies? What can be done to rectify these current injustices?
- What are some reasons for poor health? How might those issues be improved or irradicated?
- How might cross-cultural and transnational collaborations address issues of and improve global health situations in multiple countries?
- What has been the focus of transnational interactions regarding global health? How inclusive or exclusionary are transnational conversations?
- What kinds of interdisciplinary work are needed to improve global health?
- What roles do technology and digital literacy play in global health disparities and solutions?
- How do issues of access to science, technology, and medicine interconnect to global health?
- How do environmental factors intersect with global health situations?
- What political, philosophical, or ideological factors influence health laws and policies?
How do I submit a proposal to give a paper/presentation at the ARSTM@RSA 2022 preconference?
In an individual abstract of 300 words or fewer (not including a bibliography), detail how your paper and/or presentation will further our understanding of global health in relation to rhetoric of science, technology, and medicine as a research site and/or as a professional space. Panels consisting of three to four presentations may be 300 words or fewer per presenter (not including a bibliography) as well as a 200-word panel abstract. Panel members should be from multiple institutions. Abstracts are due by January 21, 2022.
Send your abstract as an attachment without any identifying information to Diane Martinez and Drew Virtue at arstm.rsa2022@gmail.com.
- use “ARSTM Preconference Submission” as your email subject, and
- provide your preferred contact information and the contact information for any co-authors in the email body.
Any questions about this CFP and the ARSTM@RSA 2022 preconference may be addressed to Diane Martinez and Drew Virtue at arstm.rsa2022@gmail.com.
For more details about the preconference, please be sure to subscribe to the ARSTM listserv or visit our Facebook or Twitter pages (@RhetSTM), where we’ll share announcements and other details about the preconference over the coming months.