Stigma: Notes on Medicine’s Mirror

The seminar series is funded by a grant from UKRI. SOAS launched its Centre for Anthropology and Mental Health Research in Action (CAMHRA) this year, as a centre that aims to foster collaborations between anthropology and mental health research and practice.

 

Event Abstract

This talk examines the concept of stigma, as it is constructed by scientific discourse. I argue that stigma has become a foundational term in contemporary health research and policy where it increasingly operates as a discursive black box.

Not simply an object of research, stigma operates as a standard: it determines the rules for knowledge production, reduces the risk of discursive dissonance, and enables collaboration across communities of practice.

While the term’s interoperability has many advantages, it obscures the political stakes of social disruption, frames the challenge of stigmatization as a problem of information and thus contributes to the silencing of the social. Drawing on fieldwork in India during the coronavirus pandemic, the talk examines scenes of social tension, irritation, and harassment to reveal what is being erased by stigma as it is currently used in public health research and policy. Situated in pandemic Mumbai, the talk follows healthcare workers moving in and out of the hospital in an unprecedented time of death, disease, and an almost total disruption of everyday life.

Speaker

Professor Carlo Carduff, King’s College, London

Registration

The event is free to attend, but external/non-SOAS visitor are required to register via the link at the top of the page.