Call for Applications: Training Program on “Humanities, Social Sciences and Medicine in East Asia: Interdisciplinary Approaches”

We are pleased to announce a call for applications for an August 2015 training program in Beijing:

 

Theme for 2015: “Circulation of Medical Knowledge and Practices, Past and Present”

Held at Peking University, August 10-17, 2015

 

Graduate students and junior scholars are invited to apply to participate in an interdisciplinary advanced training workshop on the theme of “Circulation of Medical Knowledge and Practices, Past and Present.” This workshop is the first in a two-year program of workshops on humanities and social science approaches to understanding medicine in East Asia, jointly organized and sponsored by the Harvard-Yenching Institute, the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong (香港大學), the Institute of Medical Humanities and Centre for History of Medicine at Peking University (北京大學) , and the Key Research Institute of Social History of China at Nankai University (南開大學). The training workshop will be conducted in English at Peking University, Beijing, on August 10-17, 2015.

 

Medical knowledge and practices have emerged over the past several decades as a fertile field of investigation for scholars seeking to rethink the nature of modernity in East Asia and elsewhere. Looking more closely at medicine offers the promise of new ways of thinking about ways of being that have helped define modern society, from changing practices of personal hygiene to the restructuring of health care institutions and the scientific investigation of disease. This training workshop will encompass historical and contemporary perspectives, highlighting the relevance of medicine to humanities and social science analyses of East Asia and facilitating creative conversations among young researchers under the guidance of leading scholars in medical history. The participating senior faculty will include:

The workshop will accept 20 participants who are either: 1) graduate students currently enrolled in a doctoral program in a recognized university, or 2) junior scholars who have received their Ph.D. degree after May 1, 2010. Applications will be accepted from graduate students and junior scholars anywhere in the world, but we expect that the majority of selected participants will be current Ph.D. students from Asian universities. The workshop will cover the participants’ room and board, and subsidize their travel to Beijing.

 

After the workshop, participants will be invited to submit a revised research statement to the Harvard-Yenching Institute incorporating the insights that they have gained. One or two of the most outstanding applicants may be selected as visiting scholars supported for a one-year fellowship at the Harvard-Yenching Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

The application deadline is Friday, April 3, 2015. For more information on how to apply, please visit http://www.hkihss.hku.hk/events/aitw2015/