2008 APHA SPIRIT OF 1848 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS:
(for pdf version of the call for abstracts click here.)

Abstracts are due on FEBRUARY 6, 2008.
Submit to the American Public Health Association Online Abstract Submission website:
http://apha.confex.com/apha/136am/oasys.epl

American Public Health Association: 136th Annual Meeting
“Public Health Without Borders”
San Diego, CA, October 25-29, 2008

The Spirit of 1848 Caucus is organizing 4 oral sessions and 1 poster session for the 136th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association. The sessions will be organized around the 3 themes of our caucus, as described in our Mission Statement. These themes concern the inextricable links between social justice and public health, as manifested in: the politics of public health data, social history of public health, and progressive pedagogy. To learn more about the Spirit of 1848 sessions we have organized at past APHA meetings, please visit our Reportbacks & Attendance Analyses page.

1. POLITICS OF PUBLIC HEALTH DATA SESSION

“Analyzing health inequities: what’s new in the 160 years since 1848? – applying new methods to longstanding problems of health injustice.”

Our twin premises for this session are that: (1) many of the types of health inequities that exist today, in 2008, were also present in 1848 – that is, unjust and unfair differences in health status and health care as caused by inequitable social divisions involving class, racism, gender, and sexuality, within and across countries, and (2) even so, much has changed in the 160 years since 1848. Within many countries, both the absolute rates and leading types of causes of disease, disability, and death have changed. Additionally, new technologies have altered the ability to define and detect disease and to conduct research to describe, explain, and depict the population distribution of – and inequities in – an array of outcomes involving health, morbidity, disability, mortality, and access to care. Examples of such new technologies include: geographic information systems (GIS) and the global positioning system (GPS), new tools for obtaining data (e.g., 24-hr ambulatory monitors, MRIs, genomic technologies, computer-assisted interview methodologies and computer-based tests, etc.), new statistical software for modeling data (e.g., for multilevel statistical analyses), and new technology-dependent approaches to visually presenting data.

For this session, we are issuing an open call for abstracts for presentations focused on how new technologies are changing the ability of public health researchers, practitioners, and advocates to analyze and depict the magnitude of health inequities and reveal their societal determinants. Abstracts addressing issues of the politics of public health data in relation geopolitics, immigration, and the very definitions of “borders” (geopolitical and social) are especially welcome!

This session will be in the American Public Health Association 136th Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA on Monday, October 27 in the 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm APHA time slot.

Abstracts are due on FEBRUARY 6, 2008. Submit to http://apha.confex.com/apha/136am/oasys.epl

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2. SOCIAL HISTORY OF PUBLIC HEALTH SESSION

“History, Borders, Immigration, and Public Health: From 1848 to 2008 – 160 years of debate”

This session will critically examine the use of health exams, from 1848 until now, for deciding who is and is not fit, according to whom, to become a legal immigrant. Case examples will focus on the role that public health, as a field, has played in immigration policy in both the US and other countries, with particular attention to public health, immigration, and the US-Mexico border.

No unsolicited abstracts will be considered for this session.

This session will be in the American Public Health Association 136th Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA on Monday, October 27 in the 10:30 am to 12 noon pm APHA time slot.

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3. PROGRESSIVE PEDAGOGY SESSION

In the spirit of commemorating 160 years of the Spirit of 1848, our session will focus on:

“Teaching Critical History of Public Health and Health Policy: Progressive Pedagogy in Action.”

Building on the discussion at our APHA 2007 session, we are seeking submissions that describe strategies for engaging learners in the histories of diverse aspects of public health and societal determinants of health, so that they can better understand how we got to where we are now, what the struggles and victories and setbacks have been, and what the options are for engaging in a more historically conscious and grounded way in the issues confronting us now. Continuing with our focus from 2007, we are interested in receiving submissions that are about teaching the critical history of public health in a broad range of settings including schools of public health and medicine, worksites, K-12 schools, legislatures, communities, undergraduate education, and professional schools other than public health/medicine, including law, social work, journalism, and policy.

For this session we are issuing an open call for abstracts: presentations for this session will be selected from abstracts submitted in response this “call for abstracts.”

This session will be in the American Public Health Association 136th Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA on Tuesday, October 28 in the 8:30 to 10:00 am APHA time slot.

Abstracts are due on FEBRUARY 6, 2008. Submit to http://apha.confex.com/apha/136am/oasys.epl

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4. INTEGRATIVE SESSION

Starting with the APHA 2002 Conference, the Spirit of 1848 has sponsored an “integrative” session that integrates the three themes of our Caucus.
Embodying the inextricable links between social justice & public health, our three themes are:
(1) the politics of public health data, (2) the social history of public health, and (3) progressive pedagogy.

For APHA 2008, our integrative session will focus on

“160 years of the Spirit of 1848: a critical celebration.”

Back in 1998, we organized an extravaganza to commemorate 150 years of the Spirit of 1848. We intend to do the same, albeit on a somewhat more modest scale, but still featuring, like the one 10 years ago, a combination of music, poetry, dramatizations, photography, and academic presentations to stimulate reflection on and commitment to public health activism. The intent is to regalvanize the spirit of 1848 and ask us to think critically about the accomplishments of the past 160 years we can celebrate, the setbacks endured and the suffering they have caused, and the work we need to do now, in our generation, in our own times, to advance the agenda of social justice and public health.

No unsolicited abstracts will be considered for this session.

This session will be held at the American Public Health Association 136th Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA on Monday, October 27, in the 4:30 to 6:00 pm APHA time slot.

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5. STUDENT POSTER SESSION

“Social Justice & Public Health: Student Posters”

The Spirit of 1848 Caucus is soliciting abstracts from students of public health and health-related programs that highlight the intersection between social justice and public health from a historical, epidemiological, and/or methodological perspective. We welcome abstracts on topics ranging from public health research to public health practice to student-initiated courses on connections between social justice & public health. The work presented can be global, country-specific, or local.

We encourage students at ALL levels of training in their work on public health to submit abstracts, whether undergraduates, master students, MPH students, or doctoral students; submissions will be judged in accordance to expectations appropriate for each level of training. Postdoctoral fellows are NOT eligible to submit posters.

Abstracts should focus on furthering understanding and action to address the ways that social inequality harms, and social equity improves, the public’s health. Examples of social inequality include inequitable social divisions within societies based on social class, race/ethnicity, and gender, as well as inequitable relations between nations and geographical regions. Given the theme of the conference, we especially welcome abstracts on the topic of public health and borders, whether referring to geopolitical boundaries or social divisions that harm health.

For this session we are issuing an open call for abstracts: all posters for this session will be selected from abstracts submitted in response this “call for abstracts.”

This session will be held at the American Public Health Association 136th Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA on Tuesday, October 28, in the 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm APHA time slot.

Abstracts are due on FEBRUARY 6, 2008. Submit to http://apha.confex.com/apha/136am/oasys.epl

If you have any questions about the proposed Spirit of 1848 sessions, please contact the relevant subcommittee contacts for these sessions, listed below:

1) Public Health Data: Nancy Krieger (nkrieger@hsph.harvard.edu)
2) Curriculum: Suzanne Christopher (suzanne@montana.edu)
3) History: Kirby Randolph (krandolph@kumc.edu)
4) Integrative session: Nancy Krieger (nkrieger@hsph.harvard.edu)
5) Student poster session: Vanessa Watts (vwatts@hsph.harvard.edu)

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