HEALTH, DISEASE AND CULTURE AREA
NORTHEAST POPULAR CULTURE ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE

The Northeast Popular/American Culture Association (NEPCA) is soliciting papers for topics in the area of Health, Disease and Culture for its annual meeting, which will be held November 11-12, 2011 on the campus of Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, Connecticut.

Topics in Health, Disease and Culture may include: Mass media images of health and disease in popular culture--print, film, television, etc.

Portrayals of health institutions and health professionals in literature or mass media

Representations of the body in discourses of health and illness

Narratives of illness from patient and health practitioner perspectives in novels, short stories, memoirs, graphic comics, etc., discussed in larger sociocultural (ethnicity, race, gender, class), and political (health care system) contexts

Disability discourses in history, literature, and public policy

Mental Health discourses in history, literature, and public policy.

Outbreak narratives of infectious diseases (e.g., endemic, epidemic,pandemic) in popular media and literature; infectious diseases in history and public policy

Historical and contemporary perspectives on the promotion of health through diet, exercise, personal or domestic hygiene, cosmetic procedures, public health campaigns, etc.

Technological innovations and their relation to popular audiences (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging, robotics, communication technologies, disease surveillance systems, etc.)

We invite both individual papers and proposals for complete panels. Please send a 1-2 page paper proposal and a one-page vita to Jennifer Tebbe-Grossman, Area Chair for Health, Disease and Culture.

Paper proposals are due June 3, 2011.

Danbury is within easy access of most Northeast locations, just off of I-84. It is very easily accessible via Metro-North train service on the New Haven line from Grand Central Terminal in New York City. The Danbury train station is a three-minute walk from campus.

Jennifer Tebbe-Grossman
Professor of Political Science and American Studies
School of Arts and Sciences
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences-Boston
179 Longwood Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Phone: 617-732-2904
Fax: 617-732-2959 or 617-732-2801
Email: jennifer.tebbe@mcphs.edu