Elphinstone Institute - 2015 David Buchan Lecture by Nicolas Le Bigre Dear all, The 2015 inaugural David Buchan Lecture, Recycled Stories: Health Legends, Epidemics and the Politics of Risk, delivered by Professor Diane E. Golstein, was a great success. We are pleased to announce that the full lecture is now available to watch online: http://abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/public-engagement/david-buchan-lecture-2015 Information about the lecture can be found at the link above. See below for the abstract. Abstract As part of community discourse about the nature of disease, legends provide powerful information about cultural understandings of disease and illness. Though fascinating, intriguing, and often frightening, health legends do more than merely entertain. They warn and inform, articulate notions of risk, provide political commentary on public health actions, and offer insight into the relationship between cultural and health truths. When taken seriously, with respect for the narratives and their tellers, health legends enable understandings of perceptions of risk, reveal local views of public health efforts, and highlight areas of health care and education that need to be improved. Health narratives, however, do not simply articulate perceptions of disease realities; they also create those realities. Told within scientific and official sectors as well as lay communities, legends play a significant role in medical, legal, and educational responses to disease and its management. This talk will explore similarities between legends concerning several epidemics and will demonstrate the importance of that information for public health. Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ei.folklore

Elphinstone Institute - 2015 David Buchan Lecture

Dear all,

The 2015 inaugural David Buchan Lecture, Recycled Stories: Health Legends, Epidemics and the Politics of Risk, delivered by Professor Diane E. Golstein, was a great success. We are pleased to announce that the full lecture is now available to watch online: http://abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/public-engagement/david-buchan-lecture-2015 

Information about the lecture can be found at the link above. See below for the abstract.

Abstract

As part of community discourse about the nature of disease, legends provide powerful information about cultural understandings of disease and illness. Though fascinating, intriguing, and often frightening, health legends do more than merely entertain. They warn and inform, articulate notions of risk, provide political commentary on public health actions, and offer insight into the relationship between cultural and health truths. When taken seriously, with respect for the narratives and their tellers, health legends enable understandings of perceptions of risk, reveal local views of public health efforts, and highlight areas of health care and education that need to be improved. Health narratives, however, do not simply articulate perceptions of disease realities; they also create those realities. Told within scientific and official sectors as well as lay communities, legends play a significant role in medical, legal, and educational responses to disease and its management.  This talk will explore similarities between legends concerning several epidemics and will demonstrate the importance of that information for public health.

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ei.folklore