CfP: History of medicine in the Indian Ocean World



International Conference, "Histories of Medicine in the Indian Ocean World"
Call for Papers

Indian Ocean World Centre (IOWC)
McGill University, Montreal, Canada

26-27 April 2013

Organiser: Anna Winterbottom (IOWC, McGill University)

The IOWC is looking for papers that address any aspect of medicine in the region of the Indian Ocean world, including Northeast, East and South Africa; the Middle East, the Indian Ocean islands; South, Southeast and East Asia, in any historical period. The aim of the conference is to interrogate the concept of the Indian Ocean as a "world" using the exchange of medical goods, texts, instruments and ideas as a lens through which to examine how far the region may be regarded as a cultural entity. As well as being an article of trade, medicine is associated with religious, spiritual, and cultural ideas about the body and its relation to the environment. These ideas both govern the acceptance, modification or rejection of medicines and medical ideas, and are altered by them. Medical exchanges can thus be used to provide a cultural perspective on historical events and trends, such as the spread of Islam and other faiths, the movement of migrant and diaspora communities, free and enslaved, and the rise and fall of empires in the region. The conference being multidisciplinary, papers from geography, sociology, anthropology and area studies as well as the history of medicine and science are welcome.

SUBMISSION AND REGISTRATION

Papers should be in English or French. Each paper will be grouped according to theme. Individual authors will have a certain amount of time to present their papers, to be followed by a summary presentation by a discussant during sessions devoted to each theme, followed by general discussion.

A registration fee of $110 CAD ($65 CAD for students) will be charged. The fee for late registration is $130 CAD ($75 CAD for students).

Deadline for submission of abstracts is 14 January 2013.
Deadline for payment of registration fees is 1 March 2013.

Abstracts should be submitted to the following address: iowc@mcgill.ca.
Enquiries may be directed to anna.winterbottom@mail.mcgill.ca.

Methods of payment for registration, locations and accommodation will be available online by the end of September.