Dear colleagues,
We would like to share with you the Call for Papers for the International
Workshop “*Testing under crisis / Testing the crises*” that we organize
12-13 December 2024, in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,
in Athens, Greece.
*If you have any questions, please contact us at crisistesting@phs.uoa.gr
.*
*Please find the CfP here:*
https://crisistesting.gr/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CfP-CrisisTestingWorkshop
.pdf
*Call for papers:*
A public health crisis, especially an epidemic, and the responses
formulated to address it are interwoven with a wide range of medical,
social and political interventions. The aim of the CrisisTesting
International Workshop is to bring together novel perspectives with regards
to the study of public health crises by attending to the role of the
development and use of diagnostic tests, to the emergence of a multitude of
testing practices and to the materialities associated with testing
infrastructure.
By bringing into dialogue interdisciplinary perspectives from the history
of science, technology and medicine, the social sciences, the
medical/health humanities, Science and Technology Studies, Media Studies
and other relevant fields, we would like to explore the significance and
crucial role of testing for medical practice and public health
policy-making. The workshop has a double focus. On the one hand, it
explores the social appropriations of testing in diverse settings and
public health crises.[1] On the other hand, it investigates
possible radical changes in the history and the sociology of testing
practices, be it either about testing that “occurs inside the social
environment” or about testing that “involves the very modification of
social environments”.[2]
We invite contributions that address, but are not limited to, the following
research questions:
● How testing is being used by governments/public health authorities
to inform public health interventions and to measure their performance?
● How can we better understand the sociotechnical tradeoffs of
testing during a crisis?
● How does the design of the testing infrastructure favor certain
public health policies in relation to the allocation of available
resources? Does the configuration of testing, afforded by technological
infrastructure, respond to the dynamics of health crises?
● How do cases of contested testing practices affect public health
policy and the appropriations of testing in society?
● What happens in cases of disruption to the supply of consumables
that affect testing capacity? How does the availability or lack of testing
resources and associated infrastructure impact clinical practice and
policy-making during a crisis?
● In which ways testing (and screening) shapes subjectivities and
collective identities? How are the notions of health and illness being
(re)shaped by testing?
● How different uses of testing and different tests are being
promoted, judged or challenged by public health authorities and the media
in the context of science communication?
● In which ways the social preferences are reflected in the
balancing between the level of testing specificity and sensitivity?
This is the first of two workshops to be organized in the context of the
research project “Testing under crisis, a history from HIV/AIDS to
Covid-19: between public debates and health policies -- CrisisTesting
” (2024-25). The aim of these workshops is to
provide a space for discussion and meaningful exchanges on the
aforementioned topics. Our plan is to publish an edited volume with
contributions addressing diverse aspects of medical testing in the context
of public health crises. The second Workshop will take place in autumn
2025.
*Those interested in presenting their work, please send your abstract
(approx. 250 words) and a brief biographical note (approx. 150 words) to
crisistesting@phs.uoa.gr by the 10th of
September 2024.* The two-day workshop will take place in the premises of
the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and it is an in-person
event. Participation is cost-free; the refreshments and meals are covered
by the organizers. In exceptional cases, we will try to accommodate hybrid
solutions (virtual participation).
The workshop is organized by the research team members of the CrisisTesting
project: Katerina Vlantoni (Principal Investigator), assistant professor in
the Department of Philosophy and History of Science, NKUA; Athanasios
Barlagiannis, researcher in the Modern Greek History Research Centre,
Academy of Athens; Eirini Mergoupi-Savaidou, postdoctoral researcher;
Marilena Pateraki, postdoctoral researcher; and, Kostas Raptis,
postdoctoral researcher.
[1] Beaudevin, C., Berlivet,
L., Boudia, S., Bourgain, C., Cassier, M., Gaudillière, J-P., & Löwy, I.
(2021). ‘Test, Test, Test!’: Scarcity, Tinkering, and Testing Policy
Early
in the COVID-19 Epidemic in France. *Medicine Anthropology Theory*, 8(2),
1–31. https://doi.org/10.17157/mat.8.2.5116
[2] Marres, N., & Stark, D.
(2020). Put to the test: For a new sociology of testing. *The British
journal of sociology*, 71(3), 423–443.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12746
Kind regards,
Katerina Vlantoni
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