2009 APHA SPIRIT OF 1848 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS:
(for pdf version of the call for abstracts click here.)

Abstracts are due on FEBRUARY 11, 2009.
Submit to the American Public Health Association Online Abstract Submission website:
http://apha.confex.com/apha/137am/oasys.epl

American Public Health Association: 137th Annual Meeting
“Water and Public Health: the 21st Century Challenge”
Philadelphia, PA, November 7-11, 2009

The Spirit of 1848 Caucus is organizing 4 oral sessions and 1 poster session for the 1376th 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

"Macroeconomics, Political Systems, and Population Health and Health Inequities”

Based on discussion at the Spirit of 1848 business meeting at the 2008 annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, the Politics of Public Health Data session will have an OPEN CALL FOR ABSTRACTS that critically examine how macroeconomics and political systems shape population health and health inequities, that is, the political economy of health writ large.

Examples of presentations could include results from empirical studies that demonstrate how the current economic market crisis affects population health and the magnitude of health inequities, or studies that demonstrate relationships between macroeconomic factors and/or political systems and temporal trends in overall levels of population health and/or the magnitude of health inequities. Additional possibilities include how policies of international economic institutions (e.g., The World Bank) or trade agreements (e.g., NAFTA) affect population health and health inequities, including with regard to policies and agreements pertaining to water and sanitation. Presentations based on research in the U.S. or in other countries are welcome; studies can focus on only one country or do cross-country or cross-region comparisons. The session will consist of 2-3 presentations and a discussant, and will allow for adequate time to solicit questions or comments from the audience.

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

This session will take place at the 137th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, in Philadelphia, PA, on Monday, November 9th, in the 2:30 to 4:00 pm APHA time slot.

For any questions about this session, please contact Spirit of 1848 Coordinating Committee member Catherine Cubbin (email: ccubbin@austin.utexas.edu)

Abstracts are due on FEBRUARY 11, 2009. Submit to http://apha.confex.com/apha/137am/oasys.epl

back to top

2. SOCIAL HISTORY OF PUBLIC HEALTH SESSION

“The Social History and Politics of Water and Public Health”

Based on discussion at the Spirit of 1848 business meeting at the 2008 annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, the Spirit of 1848 History session will have an OPEN CALL FOR ABSTRACTS that critically examine the social history and politics of water and public health, especially in relation to water access and sanitation.

Examples could include (but are not restricted to) critical analysis of: (a) the politics of sanitary reform during the early and mid-19th century in Europe and US; (b) past and enduring obstacles to ensuring access to adequate sanitation and clean water for the bulk of the world's population (as played out in different specific country and regional contexts); and (c) the links between past and present struggles to treat water as an essential good rather than as a commodity.

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

This session will take place at the 137th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, in Philadelphia, PA, on Monday, November 9th, in the 10:30 am to 12 noon pm APHA time slot.

For any questions about this session, please contact Spirit of 1848 Coordinating Committee member Anne-Emanuelle Birn (email: ae.birn@utoronto.ca)

Abstracts are due on FEBRUARY 11, 2009. Submit to http://apha.confex.com/apha/137am/oasys.epl

back to top

3. PROGRESSIVE PEDAGOGY SESSION

“Community perspectives on community-based progressive pedagogy”

This session will have an OPEN CALL FOR ABSTRACTS that critically examine service learning and other community-based learning experiences from the perspective of the communities in which the learning experiences are embedded. Most often, service learning and other community-based experiences are focused on student learning and student change as the important processes and outcomes. This session will turn the focus toward the community members and their experiences. We want to hear what they would like to have happen when students work in their communities and specific examples of what does and doesn’t work from the community perspective. Abstracts that involve the voices of both community members and faculty/students are welcome. If possible, at least one speaker will discuss social justice and public health issues involving water, e.g., environmental justice, water access, sanitation, and ecologic sustainability.

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

This session will take place at the 137th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, in Philadelphia, PA, on Tuesday, November 10th, in the 8:30 to 10:00 am APHA time slot.

For any questions about this session, please contact either of the following Spirit of 1848 Coordinating Committee members: Lisa Moore (email: lisadee@sfsu.edu) and Suzanne Christopher (email: suzanne@montana.edu).

Abstracts are due on FEBRUARY 11, 2009. Submit to http://apha.confex.com/apha/137am/oasys.epl

back to top

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 2009, our integrative session will focus on

“Indigenous Methodologies in Public Health Research: An Issue of Social Justice & Good Science”

This session will focus on methods for advancing discussion and practice of the use of Indigenous methodologies in public health research. Many researchers involved in research with Indigenous peoples have raised questions regarding whose perspective is informing the research process and what it means for those involved. Indigenous methodology is an approach to culturally appropriate knowledge production and dissemination. The purpose of indigenous methodologies is to ensure that research is done in a respectful, ethical manner that is valuable and useful from the view of Indigenous people. In this session, we will explore these issues in relation to the three themes of the spirit of 1848 caucus: (1) the social history of public health, (2) the politics of public health data, and (3) progressive pedagogy, and our overall focus on links between social justice and public health.

No unsolicited abstracts will be considered for this session.

This session will take place at the 137th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, in Philadelphia, PA, on Monday, November 9, 2009 in the 4:30 to 6:00 pm APHA time slot.

back to top

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 water.

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 take place at the 137th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, in Philadelphia, PA, on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 in the 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm APHA time slot.

For any questions about this session, please contact Spirit of 1848 Coordinating Committee member Vanessa Watts (vwatts@hsph.harvard.edu).

Abstracts are due on FEBRUARY 11, 2009. Submit to http://apha.confex.com/apha/137am/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) or Lisa Moore (lisadee@sfsu.edu)
3) History: Anne-Emanuelle Birn (ae.birn@utoronto.ca)
4) Integrative session: Vanessa Watts (vwatts@hsph.harvard.edu)
5) Student poster session: Vanessa Watts (vwatts@hsph.harvard.edu)

back to top