9 Apr
2024
9 Apr
'24
11:53 a.m.
Dear all,
we cordially invite you to the upcoming talk of the APSE lecture series,
delivered by Hanna Lucia Worliczek (Max Planck Institute for the History
of Science, Berlin).
Title: Predicting parasite pathologies? Coordination, validity, and
inductive risks of serological tests for congenital toxoplasmosis after
1950.
When/Where: 18.4. 15-17pm HS 3A NIG
We'll be going for dinner/drinks afterwards (Puerta del Sol) - please
write to sophie.juliane.veigl(a)univie.ac.at if you're interested in
joining - all welcome!
Abstract:
Congenital human toxoplasmosis, caused by the vertical transmission of
the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii during primary infections in
pregnancy, was established as a distinct symptomatic complex around
1940. In 1948, the first robust serological diagnostic test was
published. The severity of congenital toxoplasmosis flagged the disease
as an area of concern for pediatricians and the budding field of
perinatal medicine, and stimulated interdisciplinary research programs.
In 1975, the first nation-wide surveillance program for toxoplasmosis
during pregnancy was started, as part of the general preventive care
program for pregnant women and infants in the Austrian
“Mutter-Kind-Paß.” Physicians who provided primary care for pregnant
women, however, lacked the knowledge to interpret serological test
results. This created a need for case-management recommendations and led
to a paradoxical situation: the publication of two different and
partially contradictory official guidelines.
I will analyze and discuss the underlying interpretation of the
evidential basis of these guidelines as well as the inductive risks of
the decisions to be made during case-management. For example, the
capacity to predict potential pathologies based on serological tests was
repeatedly discussed and weighed against the risk of wrong
interpretations and their consequences. The demand to translate such
specialists’ discourses lacking a clear consensus for the realm of
public health and non-specialized clinical practice highlights the
limits of this translational activity. By understanding the complexity
of the validation and coordination efforts that contributed to the
success (or failure) of an interdisciplinary biomedical community
communicating with public health entities about infectious diseases, I
aim to provide resources to contextualize and understand current debates
about diagnostic validity as enforced, for example, by the ongoing
pandemic.
Am 05.10.2023 12:39, schrieb Sophie Juliane Veigl:
Dear all,
we cordially invite you to the upcoming talk of the APSE - lecture
series, delivered by Stephanie Ifill (University of Westminster)
Title: Knowledge as a turn towards the possibility of existence
When/Where: 12.10., 15-17pm, HS 3A
If you are interested in joining us for dinner/drinks afterwards,
write an email to Manu Sharma (manu.sharma(a)univie.ac.at)! everyone
welcome!
Abstract:
"I came to realise that to produce knowledge, I must enter into a
framework where I am non-existent....I refused...There must be another
possibility, another way of knowing." This talk brings forward the
question: what is the possibility of epistemic non-existence? One of
the possibilities I raise is that of the turn. The turn is not a seek
of inclusion in; it's a turn, a break from. I turn in relation to
Sylvia Wynter (to rupture) and Henri Bergson (to indetermination) to
help articulate what I mean by epistemic turn. Upon awareness, there
is the possibility to turn from, indeed with a cost, but a possibility
none the less. This talk represents the culmination of deep thought
brought out through relational conversations and a direct lived
confrontation with epistemic non-existence; it's part of an ongoing
experiment in the possibility of appearing in Europe as a *Black woman
(outside of the cage).
Kind regards,
Sophie Veigl on behalf of the APSE-Unit
--
Dr. Sophie Juliane Veigl, BSc., BA., MSc., MA.
Institut für Philosophie, Universität Wien
E-Mail: sophie.juliane.veigl(a)univie.ac.at
my pronouns are she/her