Final Call for Papers:
Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers
Annual Conference
Manchester, UK, 26th - 28th August 2009.
Session sponsored by Geography of Health Research Group (GHRG)
'Chronic illness and coping in the city'
Convenors: Ed Hall (Dundee) and Fiona Smyth (Manchester)
Chronic illnesses dominate contemporary concerns about health and the
policies developed to support people living with such conditions. As
mortality rates from heart disease, cancers and some other illnesses
have fallen, so the focus has shifted away from concerns about mortality
and towards the morbidity associated with diabetes, heart failure,
cancers, stress-related illness, obesity, HIV/AIDS, ME and other
conditions. In Britain, the government outlined their particular
concerns about increased numbers of people living with chronic health
conditions (and the resulting costs to the NHS) in its White Paper
Choosing Health: making healthy choices easier (2004). At the same time,
professional and academic concern has begun to focus on the experiences
of people living with such conditions - what they feel bodily and
emotionally, what their coping strategies are, the range of spaces and
networks within which they live (home, work, healthcare, public and
private spaces) - and the resultant challenges for healthcare and other
provision and policy. Urban contexts have particular concentrated
‘comings together’ of people experiencing chronic conditions and,
increasingly, have seen the development of new kinds of structures to
support people living with illness (for example, expert patient
programmes). With the RGS conference in Manchester in 2009, this session
seeks to use this city as a case-study of the experiences of and
responses to chronic illness, individuals, organisations and agencies,
whilst also addressing wider academic and policy issues and debates. The
session will provide an opportunity to develop the dialogue between
academic, policy-makers, agencies and organisations, and individuals,
from Manchester (and beyond), in order to examine, amongst others, the
following questions:
● What is the extent, nature and geography of chronic illness in
cities?
● How do individuals in cities socially and spatially experience
chronic illness, what coping strategies do they devise, and what
forms/spaces of social and emotional support do they draw upon?
● Can cities such as Manchester be characterised as ‘landscapes of
despair’ or ‘therapeutic landscapes’ for people with chronic
illness?
● What are the roles of voluntary, statutory and other agencies in
the social construction of chronic illness, and the development of
responses to it?
● How can academic, policy and frontline organisations individually
and in dialogue understand the issues and challenges of chronic illness
in the city?
The session can include academic paper presentations, policy issues,
poster displays, and chaired discussions. Contributions from geography,
sociology, social policy, anthropology, public health, and other
disciplines welcome.
Please submit abstracts (of approximately 250 words) to: Ed Hall
([log in to unmask]) or Fiona Smyth ([log in to unmask])
by Monday 9th February 2009.
Dr. Edward Hall
Lecturer in Human Geography
Geography
School of Social and Environmental Sciences
University of Dundee
Dundee
DD1 4HN
UK
Tel: 01382 388073
Email: [log in to unmask]
The University of Dundee is a registered Scottish charity, No: SC015096
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