Second Call for Papers by 2 April 2012
Online Registration Now Open
On behalf of the New Zealand Organising Committee, it gives us great pleasure to invite you to the 15th International Philosophy and Psychiatry Conference 5-7 July 2012 to be held at the St David Lecture Complex, University of Otago.
The conference aims to go to the heart of debates about the nature of mental disorder, as it occurs in a multicultural setting. Psychiatric diagnoses, arising as they tend to from Western sources (for example, the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), are often not well suited to the traditions of indigenous peoples. Recent neuroscience is beginning to acknowledge the influence of culture on the development of the brain in ways that can inform our thinking about mental disorders. Leading thinkers from within Māori culture will be among the conference’s keynote speakers, providing a very special opportunity for dialogue and exchange of ideas.
Themes Include:
1. Culture, identity and the brain: This theme focuses on neuroscience in relation to cultural and social cognition as they are studied with brain imaging work on psychiatric disorders. It also examines the possible contributions of biological psychiatry to understanding cultural variations in patterns of mental disorder.
2. Mental disorder and displaced peoples – being strange in strange places: This theme looks at work in post-colonial settings and in immigrant populations and the relationships and connections could be made between the two.
3. Culture and forensic psychiatry: This theme examines criminality and the incidence of mental disorders according to ethnicity and cultural status. There are divergencies in the ways that different cultural and ethnic groups are treated by health care and justice systems and the complex interactions between them need critical discussion.
4. Culture and maladies of the soul: The link between culture and identity, cultural variations in rites of passage in adolescence and other age-groups arguably affect the manifestations of mental disorder in different ethnic groups, a further topic needing critical discussion.
The International Network for Philosophy and Psychiatry
The conference is being run on behalf of the International Network for Philosophy and Psychiatry (INPP). INPP provides a collaborative research and education forum to support organisations and individuals involved in conceptual and ethical work in psychiatry and related disciplines. INPP is a registered international charity (Charity Commission no. 1101747).
Its aims are:
- to support educational, research, policy and service initiatives in mental health that are based on valuing individual and cultural differences and respecting diversity.
- to contribute to such initiatives through rigorous philosophical and cross-disciplinary work on the concepts guiding mental health practice.
- to facilitate collaborative learning through exchange of ideas, experience, knowledge and skills.
- to work with national, local and subject-based organisations with appropriate aims, in developing and strengthening their unique identities.
Conference Setting
Dunedin (Maori name Otēpoti) is set on the shores of the Pacific on the South Island of New Zealand. For those with a little time to spend, the Southern Alps including the magnificent Mount Cook (Aoraki – Cloud Piercer) and the stunning lakes and mountains around Queenstown and Wanaka are only half a day’s drive away.
Important Dates
| Abstracts submitted by Extended |
2 April 2012 |
| Student Scholarship applications submitted by |
2 April 2012 |
| Online registration opens |
26 January 2012 |
| Abstract submissions and scholarship applicants advised by |
10 April 2012 |
| Elective Presenters to be registered by |
20 April 2012 |
| Earlybird registration ends |
5 April 2012 |
