Call for Papers 4S Closed Panel: The Corporatization of Health

Sponsored by the Society for Medical Anthropology’s Special Interest Group on Science, Technology and Medicine David Lowry, Biola University; Kate Tyrol, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute In the current global landscape of health care, corporations play an increasingly significant role in defining, packaging, and selling science, health, wellness, and happiness. This panel asks: How does the therapeutic colonization of the body and the building of medical brands that signify hope define discourses on public health, health/drug policy, or human rights? How do corporate attempts to intervene in science and health function beyond the purported intent (e.g. human “good” or “repair”) of these efforts? These efforts often disguise profit-seeking maneuvers under the guise of the corporation’s “friendly” brand. By promoting new products as “innovation”, it is suggested that we need look no deeper into the new practices formulated by these new technologies. Organized by the Science, Technology, and Medicine (STM) special interest group of the Society for Medical Anthropology, this panel seeks to address these questions through the lenses of STS and medical anthropology. We invite abstracts that explore the corporatization of health in contemporary and historical settings from any region or context. We are soliciting papers that provide ethnographic insight into such case studies as, for example. Nestle’s water imperialism, Nike’s nascent health intervention work in Native America, and Walgreen’s attempted monopolization of global drug distribution. Please submit abstracts of up to 250 words in length. Email your abstract (PDF, Word, or plain text) to tyrolk@rpi.edu and david.lowry@biola.edu by January 14, 2018.