22.10.24, 19:30, Jenny Slatman, Nieuwe lichamelijkheid. Wanneer je lichaam niet in de wereld past

A human being is not a sum of body and mind, but a physical or embodied being. When your material physicality does not fit into your material context, your possibilities are constrained. For instance, black bodies are more likely to be hindered in a white world, women's bodies have to be shielded and inhibited in a misogynistic world, fat bodies don't fit in a world set up for average bodies, mounted bodies can't take the stairs, and depressed bodies become inert because their world no longer invites them.

Bodies always function in relation to other bodies and to the environment. Yet the view is still prevalent that you can solve physical problems by focusing on shortcomings in the body, in thinking or in the behaviour of individuals. ‘If you don't fit into the world, you should make sure you do,’ seems to be the adage of our time. In her lecture, Jenny Slatman will first briefly explain where this focus on the individual comes from and what its shortcomings are. She will then present a new view of physicality.

In the follow-up discussion, Professor of Medical & Health Humanities Jenny Slatman, together with Hanane El Kaddouri of Afromedica, an organisation dedicated to ethnic diversity in healthcare, and moderator and disability studies researcher Gert-Jan Vanaken, will discuss what Slatman's insights mean for healthcare. How can we engage with a healthcare system that is still far too ill-equipped to care for the diversity of bodies it should actually care for?

• Jenny Slatman is professor of Medical & Health Humanities at Tilburg University. Her research consists of philosophical-anthropological analyses of corporeality in art, expression and medical practices. She has published several books including Nieuwe Lichamelijkheid (Gorredijk, 2013). In 2010, Slatman received a NWO-VIDI grant for her project Bodily Integrity in Blemished Bodies, and in 2017 she received a NWO-VICI grant for her project Mind the Body: Rethinking embodiment in healthcare.
• Gert-Jan Vanaken trained as a physician and currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven and University of Antwerp. His work is situated on the borders of ethics of care, disability studies and clinical autism research. Gert-Jan is particularly interested in how good and equitable autism care can be shaped from a neurodiversity perspective. In 2023, he was part of the twelve “spraakmakende stemmen" of Nieuw Geluid (deBuren).
• Hanane El Kaddouri is a GP-in-training at a community health centre in Ghent. In 2023, she obtained her degree as a basic doctor at Ghent University. Since then, she has been a board member of Afromedica, an organisation dedicated to ethnic diversity in healthcare and healthcare training. As a GP, but also as a woman, Muslim and person with Moroccan roots, she tries to do her bit to build and further develop a healthcare system in which diversity sensitivity and inclusion are self-evident.

This evening is a collaboration between Studium Generale and de Buren. This lecture will take place at MIRY Concert Hall. The hall is wheelchair accessible via a lift to the first floor. A sign language interpreter is provided for this lecture. Anyone with further questions about accessibility facilities should contact the organisation: anais.vanertvelde@hogent.be. On site, questions can be put to the job student at the desk.