Claire Wendland, assistant professor of Anthropology at UW–Madison, will present “AIDS in Africa and Global Health” in the upcoming Global Hot Spots Lecture Series‘ event, Friday, March 12 from 1:30-2:30 p.m., at the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon Street.
Wendland is a medical anthropologist, with a focus on the globalization of biomedicine, particularly in Africa. Related work includes the anthropology of reproduction, sexuality, and the body. Her first book, A Heart for the Work: Journeys through an African Medical School, will be published by the University of Chicago Press in 2010.
“My first book explores the experiences of medical students learning to be doctors in Malawi, and argues that their responses challenge several longstanding assumptions about biomedicine and about African healing,” Wenland said. “My new research project looks at changing concepts and loci of risk in childbirth in southeast Africa, in a setting in which very high maternal mortality rates force professionals and lay people alike to develop explanations for the link between birth and death. I seek to understand how the narratives of maternal death they produce reflect experiences of a rapidly changing social, economic, and biomedical context.”
The lecture series lends insight you can only get from renowned UW faculty. These thought-provoking lectures focus on everything from politics to global health to human rights, the economy, and the environment. Global Hot Spots lectures are held monthly from 1:30-2:30 p.m. at the Pyle Center. These lectures are free and open to all, although an RSVP is requested for each event.
For more information about lectures and resources on global topics, visit the International Institute Web site, where you will find a list of area studies centers on campus.
The 2009-2010 Global Hot Spots Lecture Series is co-sponsored by the UW-Madison Division of International Studies, the Wisconsin Alumni Association, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), and Participatory Learning and Teaching Organization (PLATO), which is a program of OLLI.