The Medicine and Its Objects Workshop (MIO) is a forum for critically thinking about the plurality of medicine, as a problem space, in relation to the diverse social and material worlds in which it takes animate shape and form. It considers the “objects” of medicine and health sciences—whether the objects of inquiry guiding knowledge production, objects of intervention directing therapeutic processes, institutional objects that constitute medical domains, or material objects that mediate interactions at the interplay of theory and practice. 

MIO offers an intellectual space for participants to think together about what constitutes the “objects” of medicine, how these objects are mobilized in and through communities, bodies, policies, practices, and institutions, and the philosophical, theoretical, and grounded experiences of medicine and its objects as situated in embodied, socio-historical, and economic contexts.

As an interdisciplinary workshop, MIO draws together perspectives from various social scientific, biomedical, and humanistic disciplines with interests that coalesce around the social studies of medicine and allied health sciences. We welcome a variety of formats to foster an interdisciplinary community and exchange and offer experience in a range of academic genres.

Schedule: See 2023-24 Schedule

Location: See 2023-24 Schedule

Coordinators: Uma Blanchard & Sam Robson

Faculty Sponsors: Eugene Raikhel (Comparative Human Development) & Zhiying Ma (Crown School)

Mailing List: To sign up for our mailing list and receive updates on forthcoming meetings, enter your email address here.

***For more information about the workshop, or if you need assistance in order to attend, please contact the coordinators Uma Blanchard (ublanchard@uchicago.edu) and Sam Robson (robsons@uchicago.edu).