2004, Reframing Infectious Disease
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The University of Michigan’s Institute for the Humanities hosted an international conference, “Reframing Infectious Disease,” December 2-4, 2004, to probe the relevance of the humanities to epidemiology, disease models and the global AIDS pandemic.
The Institute assembled panelists from the humanities, anthropology, public policy, public health, medicine, law, journalism, AIDS activism, and foundations, whose global reach included Brazil, Canada, Peru, France, South Africa, and the United States, in order to convene the debate. In seven panels, they explored such topics as: Gender-Based Violence and HIV Infection; Biodefense; Sexuality and Anxiety; Human Rights and HIV/AIDS; South Africa as a Case Study; The Mosquito; and Whose Epidemic Is It?
Among the highlights was Howard Markel’s talk on December 2, at 5 pm, about his recent book,
When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics that Have Invaded America since 1900 and the Fears They Unleashed, and Laurie Garrett’s keynote address on December 4, at 4 pm, “Emerging Disease in a World out of Balance.” Garrett is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health and Markel is a pediatrician and historian at the University of Michigan and director of the Center for the History of Medicine.
This conference was underwritten by a generous grant from Richard A. and Susan Mayer. It inaugurated the Institute’s new program series:
Crossing the Diag: Humanities in Dialogue, whose purpose is to extend the scope of the humanities through dialogue with other regions of the University on topics of central importance for our times.
The planning committee included Kristin Dunkle, Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, Emory University, and University of Michigan faculty: Sioban Harlow and Nicholas B. King, Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health; Daniel Herwitz, Institute for the Humanities; Jonathan M. Metzl, Program in Culture, Health and Medicine; Amy R. Sheon, Center for the Advancing Research and Solutions for Society; Alexandra Minna Stern, Center for the History of Medicine; and Miriam Ticktin, Women’s Studies and Anthropology.
A related
art exhibition, “AIDS Art/South Africa,” from the National Gallery of Art, Cape Town, will be on display in the Institute’s Osterman Common Room, 0520 Rackham, 915 E Washington St, November 8 – December 17.
