[ecrea] CfP: Chronic Disease & Language BAAL Health & Science Communication SIG Workshop

FINAL CALL FOR PAPERS

Abstract Submission Deadline: 29 September 2017

Workshop of the British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) 
Health & Science Communication Special Interest Group (SIG)
“Chronic Disease and Language: Understanding Social and Linguistic 
Representations to Improve Treatment and Prevention” #healthsci17

29 November 2017, hosted by the Department of Linguistics and English 
Language, Lancaster University

‘Chronic disease’, ‘long-term condition’ and ‘non-communicable disease’ 
are often used interchangeably to refer to conditions that can be 
managed, but not cured. Despite the synonymous use, these terms frame 
differently the conditions they describe - foregrounding the duration of 
the disease or its mechanism of operation. This ‘what’s in a name’ 
example is a good if crude illustration of how language can shape our 
thinking about chronic disease. As chronic diseases become more 
widespread among populations worldwide, they are also increasingly the 
target of government initiatives for treatment and prevention and 
therefore, increasingly the focus of text and talk. From a discourse 
studies perspective, texts do not simply describe the reality of a 
chronic condition. By drawing on some types of knowledge and not others, 
incorporating the voices of some actors but not others and highlighting 
certain aspects of a condition and not others, they help construct the 
reality of that condition. Research has revealed how health-related 
information leaflets, media articles, policy documents and more 
recently, social marketing campaign advertisements explicitly or 
implicitly prioritise certain causes, propose solutions, allocate 
responsibility and ultimately, construct particular understandings of 
chronic diseases (and what needs to be done about them). A finding that 
runs through much of the literature is about the prevalence of an 
individualised discourse, a victim-blaming style and stigmatisation of 
the affected individuals.

In recent years, the focus on early intervention and prevention of 
chronic diseases has intensified in parallel with a growing 
understanding that solving chronic disease problems would require multi- 
or trans-disciplinary research and taking a much broader view of the 
drivers of health beyond the individual level. We therefore welcome 
papers that study chronic diseases and representations in contemporary 
texts adopting various methodological and theoretical approaches 
(including, but not limited to discourse, framing, metaphor, narrative) 
with the aim of understanding how language shapes (and potentially 
limits) the ways that individuals and institutions can think, speak and 
behave. The aim of the workshop is to bring together researchers from 
the fields of the social sciences, humanities and beyond to share 
findings relating to the key challenges and opportunities that 
representations pose to treatment and prevention targets. Proposals are 
invited for 20-minute paper presentations as well as posters.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers

*Dr Shona Hilton, Deputy Director, Medical Research Council 
(MRC)/Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office (CSO) Social and Public 
Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow

*Prof Rusi Jaspal, School of Applied Social Sciences, Faculty of Health 
and Life Sciences, De Montfort University

Submission Guidelines: Please send your proposals in the form of a 
300-word abstract (including references) via the following form: 
https://tinyurl.com/healthsci2017.

Further Information: http://www.baal-health.uk/

Any Outstanding Questions: contact Dimitrinka Atanasova at 
(d.atanasova /at/ lancaster.ac.uk)




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