AFTER THE END
Interdisciplinary approaches to lived experiences in the aftermaths of crises in global health
When global outbreaks of disease are declared ‘over’, what, when and for whom is an end ‘the end’ - and what happens afterwards?
How do declarations of ends shape personal experiences of crises, ongoing access to care, health and obligations?
ABOUT THE PROJECT
We are a unique group of academics from different backgrounds, collaborating to explore shared experiences that are often hard to narrate because clear endings are unavailable. Our work examines the types of real-world issues that many people grapple with daily. Experiences of ‘after the end’ have informed our investigations of: ongoing experiences of epidemics and environmental disasters after official declarations of endings; living in environments where medicines are no longer available or accessible; trauma recovery; the impact of legal endings; and waiting for ends that never arrive. Discussing what happens ‘after the end’ will provide new, relevant and engaging insights on this crucial and timely issue.
We seek to have a major impact on the care, attention and time given to the most marginalised by focusing on the people, places, processes and policies that accompany crises and how time and endings are felt during and after.
THEMES
THEMES
The difficulty in discerning a definitive end is not particular to one disease outbreak or environmental disaster, location or community. Rather the lack of a clear end reveals the problematic and differing facets, versions, meanings and power dynamics attached to endings. We seek to explore themes related to time such as the role of memory, time as an instrument of power and different experiences and concepts of time.
focus areas
We consider multiple ideas of endings as drawing attention to counter-narratives and lived experiences of continuations, endurance and survival in contexts where disasters, infectious disease outbreaks and environmental events still shape the existence of many even after they have been declared officially over.
This multi-method project is organised around four theoretically informed interconnected areas of research exploring the end and endings; after the end, future times, and connecting times.
