‘Suspicious Medical Matters’

We are very happy to announce that a special section on ‘Suspicious Medical Matters’ is out in the Nordic Journal of African Studies. Work on the publication was initiated in 2018 with a panel on the same topic during the Nordic Africa Days in Uppsala and has been part of the project ‘Health, Politics and Culture in Africa’. The project was run by Forum for Africa Studies as part of a strategic investment by the Vice Chancellor’s Office of Uppsala University to link the Faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences with the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacology. To access the section, click on the link.

The special section opens with an introduction to the theme of ‘Suspicious Medical Matters’ by Ulrika Trovalla, the coordinator of the project ‘Health, Politics and Culture in Africa’. She writes: ‘Drawing from a variety of experiences from the African continent, this special issue delves into the field of suspicion that surrounds medical matters: the complexes of suspicion which connect to patients, healthcare providers, healthcare institutions, donors, NGOs, pharmaceutical companies, health policies, medical technology, medicines, diseases, viruses, etc.’

Publication: Female Genital Cutting: The Global North and South

We are very happy to present the edited volume Female Genital Cutting: The Global North and South, which is an outcome of the 9th conference on research on female genital cutting (FOKO) in Höör, Sweden, 2018. The conference that was hosted by Forum for Africa Studies and International Maternal and Child Health (IMCH) at Uppsala University and Centre for Sexology and Sexuality Studies at Malmö University, brought together 30 researchers coming from different Nordic countries and a multitude of disciplines.

The volume is edited by Sara Johnsdotter and contains, among 11 other contributions, an insightful chapter by our own Professor Birgitta Essén, one of the Health, Politics, and Culture in Africa project’s intellectual leaders. Her chapter carries the title: One Genital, Two Judgments: Why Do “Expert Witnesses” Draw Different Conclusions in Suspected Cases of Illegal Cutting of Girls’ Genitals?.

Find the publication here.

Round-table on Skin-lightening

Saturday 19 June: 16.00-17.30

Zoom: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/63088062945

 

Skin-lightening: Navigating Situated Geographies of Colourism

Dépigmentation cosmétique volontaire: naviguer entre les géographies situées du colorisme

Skin-lightening among West Africans and West African diasporans is a practice surrounded by ambivalence. It is displayed in the circulating images simultaneously promoting light skin and portraying the damaging results of skin lightening. It is seen in the discrepancies between the national banning of products, and the soaring sales of these same products under the counter. It is expressed in social condemnation, collective experiences and statistics all highlighting that lighter skin gives better social and economic opportunities. Acknowledging that skin lightening practices are, in most contexts couched in ambivalence that has largely grown out of colonial and post-colonial power hierarchies, structures and processes, this roundtable aims to move beyond generalized discourses and instead position the practices of skin-lightening within localized experiences of the world. We focus on discourses around colourism, morality, health, consumption, beauty, success and black identity in West African localities and the West African diaspora. To have a more encompassing approach to the complex phenomenon of skin-lightening in local geographies, this roundtable underscores the local perspectives, as well as stresses the bringing together of viewpoints from activists to medical, humanistic and social scientists. 

Chairs:

Clementina Amankwaah, Oulia Makkonen, Ulrika Trovalla (Uppsala University)

Presenters:

Salma Eltahir, Uppsala University

Sam Adu-Gyamfi, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana

 Abla Sefako Akakpo, Université de Lomé, Togo

 

 

12 February 2021, online literature seminar on skin-lightening: “Skin-Lightening: A Global Public Health Affair”. For more info. click on the image.

 

9 October 2020, online literature seminar on skin-lightening: “Images through the Lens of Colourism and Skin-lightening Practices”. For more info. click on the image.

 

13 March 2020, lecture with Anna Baral on “Love on the Move: Intimacy and mobility in Jinja (Uganda)”. For more info. click on the image.

 

Friday Seminar in Africa Studies with Mats Målqvist on “Proud to be a Siphilile Woman!”. For more info. click on the image.

Medicine and Armed Conflict in Africa

At the Friday Seminar in Africa Studies on the 22 of November, Professor Victor Adetula had a very engaging presentation on the topic of medicine and armed conflict in Africa, which was followed by a very lively discussion.

 

For more info. click on the image.

 

Friday Seminar in Africa Studies with Sara Bylund on adolescents accessing sexual and reproductive health services in Tanzania. For more info. click on the image.

Workshops in Dar es Salaam

A series of workshops were held between 11th and 22nd of February in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. As part of Forum for Africa Studies’ PhD student representative Henrik Makokha-Sandell’s PhD-project on the use of vacuum extraction in emergency obstetric care at Muhimbili National Hospital, the workshops aimed at establishing a joint agenda and collaborative initiatives for an upcoming intervention study.

African Cities and the Materiality of Suspicion

December 9-11 2018: Bringing together 17 prominent scholars of African cities, with several focusing on medical matters, in the city of Lusaka, this workshop took a starting point in what city life is like when suspicion comes to underlie everyday interactions with the familiar world – when there is a deep-seated notion that objects, people, relationships, society, or indeed the world at large, are not what they appear to be.

Read programme here.

 

 

Uppsala Health Summit 2018, 14-15 June. Theme: Cancer

Forum for Africa Studies continues its engagement in Uppsala Health Summit, by participating in the planning of the 2018 Summit (14-15 June), which centers on cancer. See more info here.

 

Health, Politics and Culture in Africa

The Health, Politics and Culture in Africa project was initiated during the autumn of 2015. The project addresses a number of sub-themes that include health governance, the double burden of disease, media representations of health and Africa, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and reproductive health.

The project creates a new platform and network at Uppsala University for teaching, supervision and research at the intersection of the medical sciences and the humanities. Furthermore, it promotes meaningful collaborations with universities, research institutes and networks in Africa and elsewhere.

Health, Politics and Culture in Africa is a strategic investment by the Vice Chancellor’s Office of Uppsala University that links the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences with the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacology.

For more information, please contact Ulrika Trovalla (Coordinator, Health, Politics and Culture in Africa) at afrikastudier@antro.uu.se.

 

Download the project concept note HERE.

 
 
 
Meetings, Events, Activites

12 February 2021, 10.15-11.30. Friday Seminar in Africa Studies on skin-lightening: “Skin-Lightening: A Global Public Health Affair”. For more info. click on the link.

Friday 9 October 2020, 10.15-11.30. Friday Seminar in Africa Studies on skin-lightening: “Images through the Lens of Colourism and Skin-lightening Practices”. For more info. click on the link.

Friday 13 March 2020, 10.15-11.00. Public lecture with Anna Baral on “Love on the Move: Intimacy and mobility in Jinja (Uganda)”. For more info. click on the link.

Friday 7 February 2020, 10.15-11.30. Friday Seminar in Africa Studies with Mats Målqvist on “Proud to be a Siphilile Woman!”. For more info. click on the link.

Friday 22 November 2019, 10.15-11.30. Friday Seminar in Africa Studies with Victor Adetula on “Medicine and Armed Conflict in Africa.” For more info. click on the link.

Friday 27 September 2019, 10.15-11.30. Friday Seminar in Africa Studies with Sara Bylund on adolescents accessing sexual and reproductive health services in Tanzania. For more info. click on the link.

11-22 February 2019. Workshops in Dar es Salaam on the use of vacuum extraction in emergency obstetric care at Muhimbili National Hospital.

9-11 December 2018. Workshop Lusaka, Zambia: African Cities and the Materiality of Suspicion.

29 October 2018. Professor Ellen Gruenbaum: What could Medical Anthropology contribute to the field of Global Reproductive Health?

26-28 October 2018. The 9th FOKO Conference Female Genital Cutting: The Global North & South

19-21 September 2018. Panel on Suspicious Medical Matters

18 September 2018. Dr. Fatoumata Ouattara: Suspicions around Misoprostol: A socio-anthropological study in Burkina Faso

14 September 2018. Seminar on activism work to overcome health barriers for the Ethiopian LGBTI community

14-15 June 2018. Uppsala Health Summit 2018

4 May 2018. Nordic Network Meeting in Global and Migration Related Reproductive Health 

18-19 April 2018. Global Health Research Conference at KI

10-11 October 2017. Uppsala Health Summit 2017

9 June 2017. Seminar: Church organizations' health care delivery within the framework of Public Private Partnership in Tanzania

11-12 May 2017. Symposium: Multiple Healths: Pasts, presents and futures of bio-medicine and wellbeing in/with Africa

9 May 2017. Workshop: Anthropological Research in Sexual and Reproductive Health in Mocambique: Challenges and Opportunities

28 April 2017. Seminar: Gender, sexuality and HIV risk in the narratives of international post-graduate students in South Africa

17 February 2017. Seminar: Mental ill-health and psychological treatments in a Ghanaian context

15 December 2016. Seminar: Naturalistic Inquiry as a Methodological Proxy for Medical Anthropology

9 December 2016. Seminar: On Tracesof the Future: An archaeology of medical science in Africa.

8 November 2016. Workshop/Symposium:Engaging Anti-microbial resistance in Africa

24 September 2016. Conference panel: Health, Politics and Culture in Africa at Nordic Africa Days in Uppsala

19 September 2016. Research seminar: Studying HIV biomedical treatment, culture and statecraft in Mozambique

13 September 2016. PhD writing/research workshop with Carla Braga, Medical Anthropologist, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique

9 September 2016. SANORD 2016 conference panel: Health governance

29 April 2016. Seminar: Of medicalization, mortality and postmortems: Black forensic pathology officers in the new South Africa

8 April 2016. Seminar: Antimicrobial resistance in sustainable development: a threat and opportunity

5 February 2016. Seminar: The Double Burden of Disease in Weak Health Systems

26 November 2015. Health, Politics and Culture in Africa: Project Kick-Off

24 November 2015. Student Pub Seminar, The Diabetes Epidemic in Africa

5 November 2015. Seminar: Health, Politics and Culture in Africa, project concept development

Follow the links for more information.