Ataya: HUMA Interdisciplinary Seminar Series

Speaker: Fanny Chabrol ( Institute for Humanities in Africa, Huma & French Institute for Sustainable Development and Research (IRD)

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Bio: Fanny Chabrol is a Visiting Research Fellow at HUMA and a Research Fellow at the French Institute for Sustainable Development and Research (IRD), attached to the Population and Development Center (CEPED) in Paris, France. Her research focuses on infectious diseases and access to healthcare in public hospitals in Africa, the politics of health reform and Africa-China health cooperation, including through the building of new hospitals. More broadly, she is interested in the political economy of health, global health and health infrastructures in Africa and beyond, in the present and the future. Fanny has published on these issues, including the book: Prendre soin de sa population. L’exception botswanaise face au sida (Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 2014). 

Topic: Resilience has accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic as a rallying motto, with calls by governments for a resilient society, resilient families and schools, and, of course, resilient healthcare systems in the face of this unprecedented pandemic shock. Resilience had already gained traction as an analytical concept in public health research for approximately a decade. It became a key concept despite the recognition of its lack of conceptual consistency. In this seminar, I will present the argument of a paper authored with Pierre-Marie David in which we examined how resilience affected public health related research during the COVID-19 pandemic. We add to the existing critiques of resilience in the social sciences by reflecting on the effects of resilience when used as a concept to frame empirical inquiries and to draw lessons from the crisis. Resilience is unable to address crucial structural issues that health systems already faced throughout the world, and it remains a non-neutral political notion. We argue that we need to resist a generalised view of resilience and work with alternative imaginaries. 

How Ataya works: One presenter and their work – in exchange with the audience. Each Ataya session engages with selected work by the presenter (a text, artwork, performance, even food). The presenter introduces their work and grounds the subsequent discussion with the participants. For best engagement, we recommend participants to view the work (made available in advance on our website) before the session. More on the Ataya Series

Lunch will be served at 12:30 SAST (GMT+2).

Register to attend: send us an email at huma@uct.ac.za

Attending online? Register to join via Zoom: 

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