News
International conference
“Transformations of Postwar Europe: Medicine, Bodies and Technologies”
May 27-30, 2024
Czech Center (Georgi S. Rakovski St. 100, 1000 Sofia)
Within the project “Taming the European Leviathan: The Legacy of Post-War Medicine and the Common Good” [H2020 ERC-2019-SyG; GAID: 854503], funded by the European Science Council, the Synergy program, the Horizon 2020 Framework Program, the “Medical Anthropology” Department at IEFSEM – BAS is organizing an international conference on the topic “Transformations of Postwar Europe: Medicine, Bodies and Technologies”.
The post-war era was marked by the rapid growth of technologies that developed in different social, economic and political contexts on both sides of the Iron/Nylon Curtain. The conference will raise several questions about medical and technological developments, ideological frameworks, political utopias and institutional practices. The event is a forum for debate on the transformation of post-war Europe through the lens of medicine, medical care and related technologies. The aim is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the changing concepts of care, of the changes in the relationship between the individual – the society – the state. The emphasis is on the interconnectedness of Europe, on the interwoven history that involves various forms of interaction – intersection, exchange, competition, conflict – between and within ‘blocs’, between different communities/groups, societies and states.
Researchers from different scholar institutions from 12 countries will present their research covering several sub-themes: technologies of (self) management; self-care, and (self) control; technologies of the collective body; utopia, delusions, risks; visualizations and representations.
Conference programme: HERE
Call for papers
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
“TRANSFORMATIONS OF POSTWAR EUROPE: MEDICINE, BODIES AND
TECHNOLOGIES”
Dates: 28 – 30 May 2024
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria
The postwar era was marked by the rapid growth of technologies that developed in different social, economic, and political contexts on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Was this development dependent on the specific contexts and how? Or, was it a universal tendency establishing itself regardless of the ideological settings? Did technology playback on ideology? Could it reshape political utopias and institutional practices? The conference aims to explore the transformation of post-war Europe through the lens of medicine, care and related technologies, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of the changing concept of care and hence the changes in relationships between the individual, the society, and the state. Based on the assumptions of the ERC-funded LEVIATHAN project, the emphasis is on the interconnectedness of Europe, on the entangled history that involves different forms of interaction – intersections, exchanges, competition, conflicts – between “the blocs”, between different societies and states. For more
Meeting with the President of the European Research Council (ERC) Prof. Maria Leptin (10.04.2022)
The President of the European Research Council (ERC), Prof. Maria Leptin, met on April 10, 2022, with part of the Bulgarian team of the synergy project “European Leviathan: the Legacy of Post-war Medicine and the Common Good (Leviathan)”. The working meeting took place at the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum – BAS (IEFSEM), the host institution of Principal Investigator (PI) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Anelia Kassabova. It was attended by the President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Prof. DSc. Revalski, Full Member of the Academy, Deputy Director of IEFSEM – BAS Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ivanka Petrova, and Prof. Jose Labastida, Head of the Unit “Support to the Scientific Council” at ERC. For more.
MEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMENT 