Medical Anthropology Europe (MAE)
Since its inception in 2006, this network has been a forum for scholarly and political discussion on the anthropologies of health and medicine in Europe and beyond. In order to emphasize its function as a network for European situated scholars, the name of the network was changed in 2019, from “Medical Anthropology Network” to “Medical Anthropology Europe (MAE).” MAE is also the home of the Medical Anthropology Young Scholars (MAYS), a highly active sub-group of the network which focuses specifically on activities for, as well as the needs of students, PhD candidates and early career scholars in the field.
MAE is primarily a forum for European situated scholars, but the activities of MAE, and the subjects addressed by its members, are not confined to the European context. Rather, many health-related topics and challenges within and beyond Europe can only be addressed adequately by engaging across national and (sub-)regional borders. This becomes particularly salient with regard to the manifold mobilities of people, pathogens, and health-related ideas, practices, and technologies that have (re)shaped the fields of health and medicine in an interconnected world riddled both with friction and potentiality. Furthermore, the conditions under which medical anthropologists work and teach in different European settings are shaped and affected not only by national developments (e.g. when it comes to national roll-backs and cuts in the discipline), but also by ongoing transformations and shifts on the European level (e.g., in regard to funding opportunities or occurrences like the Brexit). Finally, all these issues – in regard to both the academic and institutional challenges we face as well as in relation to political topics like “migrant”, “refugee”, or “global” health – require public engagement and intervention beyond national or sub-regional contexts.
Against this background, our network organizes and supports the following activities:
- Organization of conferences and workshops
- Close collaboration with MAYS and other special interest groups
- Political interventions and public engagement
- Enhancement of medical anthropology’s visibility
- Exchange between and collaboration with different medical anthropology traditions in Europe (and beyond)
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