The workshop explores intersections of citizenship, race and health in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century and leading question are:
How was health negotiated and constructed in medical, cultural and political contexts? How were public health discourses intertwined with racial ideologies? How did ideas about health help shaping debates about citizenship during a time of social and political conflicts? How did literary and cultural texts reflect these racialized understandings of health?
Inspired by those key questions the workshop “Race and Health in American History” is held at the University of Hamburg, on June 11-12, 2026. The workshop is organized by the team of our subproject on “Voluntariness, Self-Care, and Health in the United States around 1865,” conducted by Pauline Fischer and Jürgen Martschukat, and the colleagues Paul Skäbe and Nina Mackert, Professor for North American History and Public History at the University of Hamburg.
Several guests from the U.S. and Germany will present diverse perspectives on the topic from history as well as literary studies, as shown on the poster on the right.
Everybody interested is cordially invited to attend the event. To take part in the workshop on recent research perspectives on Friday, June 12, please register with Stefanie Büttner via email to fg.freiwilligkeit@uni-erfurt.de. For the keynote lectures on Thursday, June 11, no registration is necessary. On both days the lectures and discussions will be held in English and take place at the Carl-von-Ossietzky-Forum at the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg (main library, Von-Melle-Park 3, 20146 Hamburg).
