(IM)MATERIAL CULTURE: Health History Collections in a Digital Era
Description
Invited speakers will represent a broad range of collections relating to health and the body. These will include biobanks, anatomical collections, and anthropological collections, as well as collections of medical technology. (IM)MATERIAL CULTURE focuses particularly on broadening perspectives on health as represented through material culture. It explores ‘the invisible’ within collections (i.e. the material culture of groups who were not considered relevant to include) or misappropriated, with speakers and panelists who represent populations historically excluded from Health History collections. This symposium draws upon perspectives and methodologies from a variety of disciplines including Indigenous Studies, Disability Studies, Sexual and Diversity Studies, Black Canadian Studies and Mental Health Studies which speak to the importance of diversity-enhancing and ethical collection policies. High school students from the Faculty of Medicine’s Summer Mentorship Program ,who are currently exploring the material culture of health through individual research projects on local objects, will present their projects.