Trans­dis­ci­pli­nary Event on Ances­tral Knowl­edge and Heal­ing (in Spanish)

You are invit­ed to take part in an upcom­ing online event held in Span­ish, focused on rit­u­al knowl­edge, tra­di­tion­al plant med­i­cine and Mediter­ranean spir­i­tu­al lega­cies. It brings togeth­er per­spec­tives from clin­i­cal prac­tice, eth­nob­otany, med­ical anthro­pol­o­gy and the cul­tur­al his­to­ry of health.

Title: Encuen­tro trans­dis­ci­pli­nar sobre saberes rit­uales, botáni­ca cura­ti­va y espir­i­tu­al­i­dad mediterránea

Date and time will be deter­mined through con­sul­ta­tion with par­tic­i­pants and atten­dees. Late July, at least two hours long. The ses­sion includes open space for dis­cus­sion and questions.

Speak­ers include
– Dr. Jacques Mabit, Taki­wasi Cen­ter, Peru
– Lau­ra Mon­teagu­do and Fabio, Neu­ro­sci­en­tist and folk med­i­cine expert
– Alfre­do Panivi­no, Expert on Eleusin­ian mys­ter­ies and ancient Mediter­ranean traditions

The event explores the clin­i­cal mod­el and rit­u­al prac­tices of the Ama­zon­ian Taki­wasi Cen­ter, Iber­ian folk med­i­cine and plant knowl­edge, and the lega­cy of the Eleusin­ian Mys­ter­ies in the con­text of Mediter­ranean his­to­ry and present-day recov­ery of lost ped­a­go­gies. Fuller details at: https://research.henning.md/p/encuentro-transdisciplinar-sobre

You are invit­ed to pro­pose your avail­abil­i­ty as new speak­er, cir­cu­late the invi­ta­tion, and join the dis­cus­sion. Please, sub­scribe to the pub­li­ca­tion in case you wish not to miss fur­ther news.

2. EU BEACON One Health Edu­ca­tion and Tech­nol­o­gy – Now an Award­ed COST Action

I am pleased to for­mal­ly announce that EU BEACON One Health Edu­ca­tion and Tech­nol­o­gy, a net­work I found­ed years ago dur­ing what accounts to tor­ture, the most severe abus­es dur­ing field­work in the EU, has been offi­cial­ly award­ed as a COST Action under the Euro­pean Coop­er­a­tion in Sci­ence and Tech­nol­o­gy frame­work. The action is now oper­a­tional and open to new mem­bers, includ­ing researchers, clin­i­cians, edu­ca­tors, tech­nol­o­gists and pol­i­cy actors. EU BEACON focus­es on advanc­ing trans­dis­ci­pli­nary, rights-based and open sci­ence solu­tions for human, ani­mal and plan­e­tary health. It address­es struc­tur­al vio­lence, epis­te­mo­log­i­cal gaps, eco­log­i­cal degra­da­tion and insti­tu­tion­al iner­tia through coor­di­nat­ed edu­ca­tion, field research and pol­i­cy engage­ment. This is a work­ing action, not an aspi­ra­tional ini­tia­tive. Its reach is glob­al, as we need to bridge and con­nect cul­tures with the now lack­ing respect, tools and fair, most need­ed means. It is designed for struc­tured imple­men­ta­tion, sup­port­ed by a grow­ing net­work of schol­ars and prac­ti­tion­ers across Europe and inter­na­tion­al­ly. If you wish to join EU BEACON and con­tribute to its work­ing groups, you are invit­ed to express your inter­est through the por­tal: https://health.int.eu.org

I encour­age and wel­come active engage­ment from those com­mit­ted to eth­i­cal, evi­dence-based trans­for­ma­tion in health, edu­ca­tion and tech­no­log­i­cal governance.

All the best,

Hen­ning (né Enric) Gar­cia Torrents

Perma­link

DDD17: „POLITICS OF DEATH”
27–30 August 2025
Uni­ver­si­ty of Utrecht (Nether­lands)

CALL FOR PAPERS AND PANELS

The Death, Dying and Dis­pos­al (DDD) Con­fer­ence is the bi-annu­al con­fer­ence of the Asso­ci­a­tion for the Study of Death and Soci­ety (ASDS). The next edi­tion will be host­ed at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Utrecht (Nether­lands) and online from Wednes­day 27 to Sat­ur­day 30 August 2025. For the upcom­ing DDD17 con­fer­ence, we invite ses­sions that explore the broad top­ic of the Pol­i­tics of Death. 

Despite appear­ing as a uni­ver­sal bio­log­i­cal event, death is and has nev­er been neu­tral. Instead, it is deeply entwined with issues of (in)equality, access, and pow­er dynam­ics. In today’s world, death is per­haps more politi­cized as it ever was before. Wars, envi­ron­men­tal crises, glob­al migra­tion pat­terns, and fail­ing states bring death close to our homes. At the same time, tech­no­log­i­cal, dig­i­tal, and med­ical advance­ments alter our approach­es to deal­ing with, think­ing about, research­ing, and work­ing with death. Such devel­op­ments are equal­ly inher­ent­ly polit­i­cal, both in their ori­gins and their applications.

As prac­ti­tion­ers and schol­ars, how do we nav­i­gate the polit­i­cal dimen­sions of death? How does the polit­i­cal shape our engage­ment with death? And how can we reflect on and poten­tial­ly change our own posi­tions with­in this polit­i­cal landscape?

For more infor­ma­tion on the con­fer­ence theme, please refer to our web­site: https://ddd17.sites.uu.nl/conference-theme/

We invite schol­ars and prac­ti­tion­ers to sub­mit a pro­pos­al for papers, orga­nized pan­els, round­ta­bles, work­shops, or oth­er for­mats by Sat­ur­day 30 Novem­ber 2024. No excep­tions to this dead­line are possible. 

We encour­age pro­pos­als in four types of ses­sion formats:

Organ­ised pan­els and indi­vid­ual papers

Pan­els will be struc­tured in the tra­di­tion­al man­ner of indi­vid­ual paper pre­sen­ta­tions. This will be four (4) pre­sen­ta­tions of 15 min­utes back-to-back, fol­lowed by a 30-minute dis­cus­sion on the pre­sen­ta­tions. All organ­ised pan­els are thus 90 min­utes. The pan­els will be orga­nized in a hybrid (i.e., includ­ing online par­tic­i­pants) for­mat, mean­ing paper pre­sen­ters can present from home. Dis­cus­sions will be orga­nized using chat-moderators.

Round­ta­bles

Round­ta­bles of 90 min­utes in which no more than five peo­ple dis­cuss a par­tic­u­lar theme or issue in front of (and sub­se­quent­ly with) an audi­ence. While a round­table may include short (approx. 5 min) contributions/presentations, the main idea is to cre­ate a live­ly debate, and not to focus on any one or mul­ti­ple presenter(s). To be able to cre­ate such debate, round­ta­bles will not be orga­nized in a hybrid (i.e., includ­ing online par­tic­i­pants) format.

Work­shops

Work­shops of 90 min­utes are char­ac­terised by exper­i­men­ta­tion, col­lab­o­ra­tion, inter­ac­tion and/or impro­vi­sa­tion. The aim of work­shops is to organ­ise col­lec­tive activ­i­ties that are open-end­ed and cul­ti­vate pos­si­bil­i­ties for sur­prise, nov­el­ty, and learn­ing. Work­shops will be designed as inter­ac­tive, reflex­ive ses­sions that pri­ori­tise explo­ration, rather than the dis­cus­sion of already estab­lished research results. To make true col­lab­o­ra­tion pos­si­ble and cre­ate safe space, the max­i­mum num­ber of per­sons per work­shop is 16 (includ­ing work­shop con­venors). The work­shops will not be orga­nized in a hybrid (i.e., includ­ing online par­tic­i­pants) format.

Oth­er

We wel­come you to share your ideas of oth­er pos­si­ble for­mats with us. If you would like to sug­gest a dif­fer­ent for­mat and/or are will­ing to run a ses­sion or activ­i­ty with a dif­fer­ent for­mat, please let us know by send­ing an email to DDD17@uu.nl. The DDD17 selec­tion com­mit­tee will then decide if and how to accom­mo­date your idea(s).

Perma­link

17th bian­nu­al DDD con­fer­ence „The Pol­i­tics of Death”
The Asso­ci­a­tion for the Study of Death and Soci­ety (ASDS)
Uni­ver­si­ty of Utrecht
27–30 August 2025

Details:

Despite appear­ing as a uni­ver­sal bio­log­i­cal event, death is and has nev­er been neu­tral. Instead, it is deeply entwined with issues of (in)equality, access, and pow­er dynam­ics. In today’s world, death is per­haps more politi­cized as it ever was before. Wars, envi­ron­men­tal crises, glob­al migra­tion pat­terns, and fail­ing states bring death close to our homes. At the same time, tech­no­log­i­cal, dig­i­tal, and med­ical advance­ments alter our approach­es to deal­ing with, think­ing about, research­ing, and work­ing with death. Such devel­op­ments are equal­ly inher­ent­ly polit­i­cal, both in their ori­gins and their applications.

As prac­ti­tion­ers and schol­ars, how do we nav­i­gate the polit­i­cal dimen­sions of death? How does the polit­i­cal shape our engage­ment with death? And how can we reflect on and poten­tial­ly change our own posi­tions with­in this polit­i­cal landscape?

Pol­i­tics is every­where; every­thing is polit­i­cal. It’s woven into every facet of life, shap­ing how we live, die, and make sense of the worlds in between and beyond. It is the lens through which we address our biggest chal­lenges and seize new oppor­tu­ni­ties. It shapes our sense of right and wrong, fram­ing what we see as moral or immoral. It guides deci­sions, both con­scious­ly and uncon­scious­ly, in every set­ting – from the halls of gov­ern­ment to the inti­mate spaces of home. It spans for­mal author­i­ty and hid­den social pow­er, thread­ing through the spaces we inhab­it, the rules we fol­low, and the sym­bols we embrace. It exists between peo­ple, envi­ron­ments and species, influ­enc­ing every­thing from small exchanges to glob­al reg­u­la­tions. In every inter­ac­tion and insti­tu­tion, there’s an ele­ment of pol­i­tics. Because of this, pol­i­tics is every­where, and every­thing down to the small­est detail is inher­ent­ly political.

For more infor­ma­tion on the con­fer­ence theme, please refer to our web­site: https://ddd17.sites.uu.nl/conference-theme/

We invite schol­ars and prac­ti­tion­ers to sub­mit a pro­pos­al for papers, orga­nized pan­els, round­ta­bles, work­shops, or oth­er for­mats by Sat­ur­day 30 Novem­ber 2024. No excep­tions to this dead­line are possible.

We encour­age pro­pos­als in four types of ses­sion formats:

Organ­ised pan­els and indi­vid­ual papers

Pan­els will be struc­tured in the tra­di­tion­al man­ner of indi­vid­ual paper pre­sen­ta­tions. This will be four (4) pre­sen­ta­tions of 15 min­utes back-to-back, fol­lowed by a 30-minute dis­cus­sion on the pre­sen­ta­tions. All organ­ised pan­els are thus 90 min­utes. The pan­els will be orga­nized in a hybrid (i.e., includ­ing online par­tic­i­pants) for­mat, mean­ing paper pre­sen­ters can present from home. Dis­cus­sions will be orga­nized using chat-moderators.

Round­ta­bles

Round­ta­bles of 90 min­utes in which no more than five peo­ple dis­cuss a par­tic­u­lar theme or issue in front of (and sub­se­quent­ly with) an audi­ence. While a round­table may include short (approx. 5 min) contributions/presentations, the main idea is to cre­ate a live­ly debate, and not to focus on any one or mul­ti­ple presenter(s). To be able to cre­ate such debate, round­ta­bles will not be orga­nized in a hybrid (i.e., includ­ing online par­tic­i­pants) format.

Work­shops

Work­shops of 90 min­utes are char­ac­terised by exper­i­men­ta­tion, col­lab­o­ra­tion, inter­ac­tion and/or impro­vi­sa­tion. The aim of work­shops is to organ­ise col­lec­tive activ­i­ties that are open-end­ed and cul­ti­vate pos­si­bil­i­ties for sur­prise, nov­el­ty, and learn­ing. Work­shops will be designed as inter­ac­tive, reflex­ive ses­sions that pri­ori­tise explo­ration, rather than the dis­cus­sion of already estab­lished research results. To make true col­lab­o­ra­tion pos­si­ble and cre­ate safe space, the max­i­mum num­ber of per­sons per work­shop is 16 (includ­ing work­shop con­venors). The work­shops will not be orga­nized in a hybrid (i.e., includ­ing online par­tic­i­pants) format.

Oth­er

We wel­come you to share your ideas of oth­er pos­si­ble for­mats with us. If you would like to sug­gest a dif­fer­ent for­mat and/or are will­ing to run a ses­sion or activ­i­ty with a dif­fer­ent for­mat, please let us know by send­ing an email to DDD17@uu.nl. The DDD17 selec­tion com­mit­tee will then decide if and how to accom­mo­date your idea(s).

Perma­link