Inaugural lecture Dr. Anna Harris
Appointed as Professor of "Anthropology and Medicine" in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
"The matter of hospitals: an ethnographer investigates”
How do we make sense of our material world, together? This is the central question I invite the audience to consider in my inaugural lecture "The Matter of Hospitals: An Ethnographer Investigates". Using three mundane clinical objects from hospitals as "idea trampolines", I outline future directions for my Chair in Anthropology and Medicine. I will explore what the social sciences and humanities, and medical and hospital fields share; namely the arts of observation, examination and investigation. As our local hospital and university currently forge new connections I will propose that not only should these fields "across the river" collaborate more, but that this conversation also needs to be opened up to include the public, as co-investigators. At the lecture I will share first copies of a new book from Maastricht University Press called The Matter of Hospitals: An Alphabetical Investigation, which includes the inaugural lecture and 26 essays in response, by leading hospital thinkers and practitioners from around the world.
Click here for the live stream.