Monday, 19 December 2016

CFP: Migrations and health inequalities in Europe

RN 16 Sociology of Health and Illness

CALL FOR PAPERS (Un)Making Europe: Capitalism, Solidarities, Subjectivities

13th Conference of the European Sociological Association

www.esa13thconference.eu

29 August – 1 September 2017 Athens, Greece

Abstract deadline: 1 February 2017

RN 16 GENERAL CALL

Europe can be made or unmade, which is especially true after the economic and social crisis of 2008. European societies and the idea of Europe have been challenged: contradictions of capitalism, fragmented solidarities and subjectivities have resulted in protest by some citizens and apathy from others. How is this context affecting the health of European societies, their populace and their health policy systems? The Board of Research Network 16 Sociology of Health and Illness invites abstract submissions that will be considered for presentation at the next ESA conference in Athens (29 August – 1 September 2017). These proposals might focus on health issues and/or aspects of health system in relation to the themes of the conference:
‘Capitalism’, ‘Solidarities’ and ‘Subjectivities’. Capitalism might be investigated in relation to resources allocated to health care in terms of cost, market dynamics, the role of different actors in health policies, or the impact of health policies in terms of health inequalities. Solidarities within European boundaries and with the rest of the world form a key aspect of European societies. Therefore these solidarities might be investigated in relation to the health of migrants, older people, people with disabilities etc in a variety of contexts.

Subjectivities affect the relationship between health professionals and citizens as well as the cultural aspects of health issues. Moreover the subjective perception of individual health is affected by structural data, socioeconomic conditions as well as by biographical experiences. Submission of abstracts focusing on these themes is welcome. The board strongly encourages the submission of abstracts with a comparative European perspective, although national or local studies will also be considered.

Abstracts may be submitted in response to this RN 16 general call or to the RN 16 specific session or joint session proposals.

RN16_RN35: Migrations and health inequalities in Europe (Joint Session with RN35 Sociology of Migration)

Organisers:
Angela Genova (Department of Economics, Society, Politics, University of Urbino Carlo Bo) and Meghann Ormond (Cultural Geography Chair Group, Wageningen University and Research - Email: meghann.ormond [at] wur.nl)

Migration flows within member states as well as from non-European countries have shaped European societies over the last century. Nonetheless, in the last decade migration processes have challenged some of the main values of European societies: solidarity has declined in heterogeneous ways and new selective criteria have been introduced. Welfare systems have been affected by demographic changes as well by political debates defining new accessing criteria and therefore new boundaries between insiders and outsiders. The joint session will investigate the relationship between migration and health policy in European member states, encouraging a comparative approach. Moreover it will investigate the health inequality dimensions affecting migrant populations and the cultural dimensions of health issues related to migrants.

Tuesday, 13 December 2016

CFP: ‘Whose heritages matter? Re-imagining “Dutch-ness” through migration in and beyond the Netherlands’

Call for participation:

‘Whose heritages matter? Re-imagining “Dutch-ness” through migration in and beyond the Netherlands’

‘The Value of Life: Measurement, Stakes, Implications’ International Conference

Wageningen, The Netherlands, 28-30 June 2017

https://centreforspaceplacesociety.wordpress.com/events/2017-conference/

Session 1: What might the Canon van Nederland look like from a migration heritage perspective?

Identities are dynamic, constructed and reconstructed across time and space. Yet, when they are questioned, tensions frequently rise. Consider, for example, when Argentine-born Maxima, now Queen of the Netherlands, suggested in a controversial 2007 speech that ‘The Netherlands is too complex to sum up in one cliché. A typical Dutch person doesn't exist’. Acknowledging the complexity of identity challenges right-wing political parties in the Netherlands and elsewhere throughout Europe to attempt to simplify the politics of identity into an essentialised ‘us/them’ binary, positing the ideals of a ‘majority’ population in opposition to ‘minority’ populations. They argue that the ‘dominant majority’ should have more say in establishing (national) identities than ‘minorities’, stoking anti-immigrant and anti-Islam sentiment.

In light of the growth in popularity of anti-immigrant views, this conference session seeks to generate timely reflection and discussion about what heritages and whose heritages currently are – and could be – included in the many sites in which representations of (post-)national history and identity can be found. In 2015, the ‘Decolonising the Museum’ conference (http://www.internationaleonline.org/media/files/decolonisingmuseums-2.pdf) stimulated postcolonial reflection on the limits and possibilities in the 21st century of museums and archives with holdings representing Europe’s colonial legacy. In line with the 2017 Value of Life conference foci on what makes a life matter, social practices around valuing life, and the constitution of ‘population’ as an object of government, we use this conference session to extend such postcolonial reflection.

For this session, we invite participants to reflect on the ‘Canon van Nederland’ (http://entoen.nu/). Those curating the Canon have sought to foster critical reflection on how people, especially schoolchildren, are ‘trained’ to understand and position themselves in relation to ‘Dutch’ heritage within and beyond the contemporary borders of the Netherlands. The Canon, accessible via an online archive and currently managed by the Openluchtmuseum, assumes a post-national perspective and intends to provide an opening for dialogue both within and outside of schools about the dynamic ways in which ‘Dutch-ness’ travels, emerges and manifests itself through time and space (http://www.entoen.nu/doc/AKeyToDutchHistory.pdf).

We ask scholars, heritage practitioners and community representatives concerned with identifying, protecting, collecting and communicating migrant heritage (e.g., experiences of economic migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, development workers, international students, soldiers, missionaries, etc.) to critically engage with the Canon. What might the Canon look like through the varied lenses of people with diverse migration experiences? Who is involved in assessing what heritages are worthwhile to remember, protect and share?

Session 2: What might a ‘Canon van Wageningen’ look like from a migration heritage perspective?

Building on discussions in Session 1, we then turn to the ‘glocal’ level. In this session, we get scholars, heritage practitioners and community representatives concerned with identifying, protecting, collecting and communicating migrant heritage to reflect on what could be included in a ‘Canon van Wageningen’, as Wageningen (the site of the conference) has not yet been included in the Canon van Nederland regional site (http://www.regiocanons.nl/). Wageningen – as a home to the Netherlands’ most internationally-diverse university, a base for far-reaching agricultural development and humanitarian aid interventions around the globe, and a significant site for the Second World War – provides opportunities to examine which and whose heritages have been and can be acknowledged and represented at a ‘glocal’ level.

Session organisers:

Karin Peters and Meghann Ormond, Cultural Geography, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands

Abstracts:

Those interested in participating are requested to submit a 250-word abstract to Meghann Ormond (meghann.ormond@wur.nl) and Karin Peters (Karin.peters@wur.nl) along with a short bio by no later than 13 January 2017.

Monday, 12 December 2016

New article: Connecting with prospective medical tourists online

Moghavvemi, S., Ormond, M., Musa, G. et al. (2016) 'Connecting with prospective medical tourists online: A cross-sectional analysis of private hospital websites promoting medical tourism in India, Malaysia and Thailand', Tourism Management, 58, 154-163. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.10.010

Free text available until 17 December 2016: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517716301881

Highlights

Websites of private hospitals promoting medical tourism in India, Malaysia and Thailand is examined.
The content and format of 51 hospitals across five dimensions analyzed.
Results provide pointers for hospital managers to improve their online presence.

Abstract

Websites of private hospitals promoting medical tourism are important marketing channels for showcasing and promoting destinations' medical facilities and their array of staff expertise, services, treatments and equipment to domestic and foreign patient-consumers alike. This study examines the websites of private hospitals promoting medical tourism in three competing Asian countries (India, Malaysia and Thailand) in order to look at how these hospitals present themselves online and seek to appeal to the perceived needs of (prospective) medical tourists. The content and format of 51 hospitals are analyzed across five dimensions: hospital information and facilities, admission and medical services, interactive online services, external activities, and technical items. Results show differences between Indian, Malaysian and Thai hospital websites, pointing to the need for hospital managers to improve their hospitals’ online presence and interactivity.

Keywords

Content analysis;
Hospital websites;
Medical tourism;
Patient;
On-line search;
Medical provider

Sunday, 23 October 2016

Global Healthcare Policy & Management Forum, Seoul, South Korea - 18-21 October 2016

Global Healthcare Policy & Management Forum

With the rapid growth of global healthcare market, many social, ethical, and legal issues around this trend have emerged. However, scholars and experts around the world have few chances to talk with each other and develop ideas and solutions for global health issues. The goal of this forum is to develop academic insight and theoretical frameworks related to medical travel. This forum intends to be a sustainable platform for knowledge sharing of scholars and experts in global healthcare field.

Host

Yonsei Institute of Health and Welfare

Organizing Committee

Ki Nam Jin (Yonsei University, South Korea)

Neil Lunt (University of York, UK)

Meghann Ormond (Wageningen University and Research, The Nethelands)

Global Healthcare Policy & Management Forum - Part I
18-19 October 2016, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea

18 October 2016, Tuesday
9:00 – 9:30	Registration
9:30 – 10:00	Opening Ceremony
	Jin, Ki Nam, Professor of Health Administration, Yonsei University
10:00 – 12:20	Session1 \| Policy & Governance Issues
Chairperson	Jin, Ki Nam Professor of Health Administration, Yonsei University
10:00 – 10:30	Resistance and the governance of international medical travel
	Meghann Ormond, Cultural Geography, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands
10:30 – 11:00	US healthcare in a global context: Roles and motivations of providers and the state
	Andrew N. Garman, Dept of Health System Management, Rush University, US
11:00 – 11:20	Tea/Coffee Break
11:20 – 11:50	The Governance of medical travel in Japan
	Mika Toyota, Dept of Culture and Tourism Studies, Rikkyo University, Japan
11:50 – 12:20	Cross-border patient mobility in the Greater China region: Emerging issues and health policy implications
	Alex Jingwei He, Dept of Asian and Policy Studies, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong
12:20 – 13:40	*Lunch (Hosted by Korea Tourism Organization)*
13:40 – 16:00	Session2 \| Asian Experiences & Issues
Chairperson	Valorie A. Crooks Dept of Geograghy, Simon Fraser Univ., Canada
13:40 – 14:10	Medical tourism in Korea: Current Status and Future Plans
	Lee, In Sook, Deputy director of Medical Wellness Tourism Team, Korea Tourism Organization
14:10 – 14:40	Recent trend of Japanese government policy on medical tourism
	Serina Okamura, Dept of Health Service Management, International University of Health and Welfare, Japan
14:40 – 15:00	Tea/Coffee Break
15:00 – 15:30	Beyond medical travel: The SingaporeMedicine experience
	Jason CH Yap, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore
15:30 – 16:00	Staying relevant: The Malaysia healthcare travel story
	Sherene Azli, CEO, Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council, Malaysia
16:00 – 17:00	Wrap-up Session
	Jin, Ki Nam, Professor of Health Administration, Yonsei University Valorie A. Crooks, Dept of Geograghy, Simon Fraser University, Canada Meghann Ormond, Cultural Geography, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands Tricia Johnson, Dept of Health System Management, Rush University, US

Global Healthcare Policy & Management Forum - Part II
21 October 2016, Medical Korea 2016, Coex, Seoul, South Korea

Friday, 14 October 2016

New book: Public Health and Private Wealth (S. Hodges and M. Rao, eds.)

Public Health and Private Wealth: Stem Cells, Surrogates, and Other Strategic Bodies
Edited by Sarah Hodges and Mohan Rao, 2016, Oxford University Press

Website: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/public-health-and-private-wealth-9780199463374?cc=nl&lang=en&

Presents a novel approach to the politics of health in modern India;

Cuts across studies of development and demography, research laboratories and the rural and urban poor;

Transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries, combining the methodologies of anthropologists, sociologists, health economists, science studies scholars and historians

Poverty whether as drain theory at the start of the twentieth century or through garibi hatao towards the end of those 100 yearswas the predominant economic, political, and social paradigm within which late colonial, nationalist and post-independence era science policy was constructed. Whether as critics of Indias poverty, or as architects of measures for its eradication, Indias commentators called on a broad framework of science both to diagnose and treat poverty. Yet, when we think of science in India today, this earlier priority of poverty eradication is now hard to find. Poverty eradication as a goal in itself seems to have fallen off Indias scientific agenda almost entirely. What accounts for this? This volume asks: Has the problem of poverty in India been solved? Or, has it become inconvenient alongside the rise of new narratives that frame India as a site of remarkable economic growth? Indeed, has there been a loss of faith in the ability of science to tackle poverty? Together, the essays in this volume explore the broader implications for the new role of science in India: as a driver of economic growth for India, rather than as a solution to the persistence of poverty.

Friday, 29 July 2016

Call for sessions and papers: The Value of Life: Measurement, Stakes, Implications -- 28-30 June 2017 -- Wageningen, The Netherlands

The Value of Life: Measurement, Stakes, Implications

International Conference

Wageningen, The Netherlands

28-30 June 2017

Conference website: https://centreforspaceplacesociety.wordpress.com/2017-conference/

This is a first announcement for the June 2017 international conference organised by the Centre for Space, Place and Society (CSPS) at Wageningen University in The Netherlands. The full call for papers and organised sessions will be available in September 2016.

How to properly conceive of, value, measure, sustain and improve on ‘life’ – in its myriad forms and at a range of scales – is becoming an increasingly profound concern in the 21^st century. In this age of computing and other significant technological advances, intensified measures of quantification are enabling us to identify and capitalise on new insights into countless dimensions of ‘life’ that had previously escaped our awareness and comprehension. Wary of the implications of this, however, others argue for a need to move away from quantification entirely to refocus on the qualitative conditions under which ‘life’ – human and/or nonhuman – is best sustained. Our conference aims to engage with this debate, asking what is at stake in contestations over appropriate standards for measuring and valuing ‘life’? How is ‘life’ variously categorized and defined in such different systems of measure? What are the oppositions, trade-offs, and potential complementarities between quantitative and qualitative assessments?

The conference will enable interaction among scholars in the social and natural sciences, practitioners, members of civil society and policymakers with interests in the politics of ‘life’ writ large. A variety of session formats will be invited, including traditional paper presentation sessions, artistic performances, roundtable discussions, posters, etc. Sessions that bring together participants from different fields and backgrounds (e.g., the natural and the social sciences; civil society, policymakers and scholars; etc.) are especially encouraged.

For further information, please contact the conference organisers by emailing britt.broekhaus@wur.nl and/orrobert.fletcher@wur.nl.

Centre for Space, Place and Society @ Wageningen University

The Centre for Space, Place and Society (CSPS) brings together researchers from three Wageningen University (WUR) chair groups – Cultural Geography (GEO), Rural Sociology (RSO) and Sociology of Development Change (SDC) – and beyond to advance critical-constructive scholarship within the social sciences. Our particular focus is on issues of socio-spatial and environmental justice. In investigating dynamics of spatial and social rootedness, connections, and circulations, with special attention to questions of inequality, exclusion, difference and plurality, CSPS seeks to translate knowledge into practical action in pursuit of a more just and equitable world.

Sunday, 10 April 2016

New book: Bodies Across Borders: The Global Circulation of Body Parts, Medical Tourists and Professionals (Parry,Greenhough,Brown and Dyck, eds)

Bodies Across Borders:

The Global Circulation of Body Parts, Medical Tourists and Professionals

Ashgate, 2015

Authors: Bronwyn Parry,Beth Greenhough,Tim Brown,Isabel Dyck

Abstract:

Historically organised at a local or national scale, the fields of medicine and healthcare are being radically transformed by new communication, transport and biotechnologies creating, in the process, a genuinely globalised sphere of biomedical production and consumption. This emerging market is characterised by the circulation of bodily materials (tissues, organs and bio-information), patients and expertise across what traditionally have been relatively secure ontological and geographical borders. Crossing both disciplinary and geographical boundaries, this volume draws together a number of important contributions from acknowledged leaders in three respective fields: the trade in bodily commodities, biomedical tourism and migration of health care professionals. It explores and maps out the key characteristics of this emerging, although as yet poorly researched global trade, questioning how, where and why bodies cross borders, whether this exacerbates existing health inequalities and how these circulations impact on healthcare services. Considered together, the chapters in this volume invite comparisons of the ways in which body parts, patients and medical professionals cross national borders, elucidating common themes, concerns and issues. Contributors also pose important questions about the ethical and legal implications of the circulation of bodies across borders and evaluate current and future strategies for regulation.

Contents:

Preface; Introduction, Bronwyn Parry, Beth Greenhough, Tim Brown and Isabel Dyck.
Part I

Corporeal Circulations: Biobanking across borders, Ruth Chadwick and Alan O’Connor;
Masculinity under the knife: Filipino men, trafficking and the black organ market in Manila, the Philippines, Sallie Yea;
A bull market? Devices of qualification and singularisation in the international marketing of US sperm, Bronwyn Parry.

Part II

Transnational Bio-Medical Tourism: Transnational health care: global markets and local marginalisation in medical tourism,
John Connell; Bioethics, transnational health care and the global marketplace in health services,
Leigh Turner; Risks and challenges for patients crossing borders for infertility treatment, Wannes Van Hoof and Guido Pennings.

Part III

Migrating Medical Expertise: ‘Real nursing work’ versus ‘charting and sweet talking’: the challenges of incorporation into US urban health care settings for Indian immigrant nurses, Sheba George;
Nurses across borders: the international migration of health professionals, Stephen Bach.

Part IV

Regulating Bodies across Borders: Medical tourism for services legal in the home and destination country: legal and ethical issues, Glenn Cohen;
Race to the bottom or race to the top? Governing medical tourism in a globalised world, Ingrid Schneider;
Dislodging the direct-to-consumer marketing of stem cell-based interventions from medical tourism, Tamra Lysaght and Douglas Sipp.

Reviews:
‘Detailing a new double movement of 21st century globalization, this compelling collection of essays underlines that disembedded market forces have far from disembodied or flattening outcomes on the ground. Instead, from global trade in organs and sperm, to the cross-border movements of medical tourists and healthworkers, we are introduced to worlds of extraordinarily uneven and unequal embodiments of global interdependency - embodiments across borders which, as the contributors explore with care, have vitally important implications for the global body politic.’
Matt Sparke, University of Washington, USA

‘This timely and fascinating collection explores a rich diversity of cultural, economic and legal practices, vividly demonstrating the intense translational flows of biomedical objects, practitioners and clientele which form part of contemporary biomedicine and their important implications for how we navigate the boundaries between ourselves and our nations.’
Anne Kerr, University of Leeds, UK

medical mobilities