2021 APHA SPIRIT OF 1848 CALL FOR ABSTRACTS:
(for pdf version of the Call for Abstracts click here.)

American Public Health Association
2021 Annual Meeting & Expo
Denver, CO
October 23-27, 2021

Building solidarity & strengthening networks for health justice.

The APHA website for submission for abstracts will open on Mon, Jan 4, 2021.

The official theme for the American Public Health (APHA) annual meeting in 2021 is: “Creating the Healthiest Nation: Strengthening Social Cohesion and Connectedness.”
We in the Spirit of 1848 are more explicit about health justice – hence: Building solidarity & strengthening networks for health justice.

Our understanding is that APHA 2021 it will be a hybrid meeting. The details of what this means will be explained as they get worked out, and we will of course share this information when we get it.
Our current understanding is that both presenters and participants will have the option to come in person or attend remotely, and that there will be reduced registration costs for virtual participation only (especially for students).

Motivating our theme is recognition that:

(1) Social movements and solidarity are key to advancing social justice and health equity – via bringing people together to attain the power to, in the words of Alicia Garza, one of the founders of Black Lives Matter, move “from a shared problem to a shared future” (see: Garza A. The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart. New York: One World, Penguin Random House, 2020 [quote: Loc 818 in Kindle edition]).

(2) A critical role for public health in building solidarity & strengthening networks for health justice is simultaneously: (a) respecting the leadership of social movements; (b) engaging with them to learn what they consider to be threats to health equity and to be needed to advance to health justice; and (c) contributing our specific public health expertise as warranted, premised on the understanding of the profound inextricable links between social justice and public health.

-- And also: once again, we continue to note with concern the latent nationalism lurking in the phrasing of the APHA general theme of “creating the healthiest nation” which has appeared as the prefix to each annual meeting’s specific theme for the past few years – and we once again ask: why not instead have the goal be: “creating the healthiest world”!

Our 5 scientific sessions and our Spirit of 1848 labor/business meeting will be in the following slots:

Our policy as of 2019 is that: for each session we will we encourage submissions that bring a critical Indigenous lens, drawing on Indigenous theories, knowledge, and methods, to the specific topic that is the focus of each session.

Below we provide: (1) the specific instructions for each session, and (2) the APHA instructions about preparing abstracts, with regard to word limits, membership & registration requirements, and information required to enable the session in which a presentation is included to qualify for continuing education credits.

Instructions for what we are seeking for each session (listed in chronological order) are as follows:

1) ACTIVIST SESSION (Mon, Oct 25, 2021, 8:30am -- 10:00am):

Title: “Building solidarity & strengthening networks for health justice.”

NOTE: presentations for this session will be drawn primarily from abstracts submitted in response to the OPEN CALL for abstracts (Due: March 28, 2021), supplemented by solicited abstracts as warranted. Per our Spirit of 1848 policy, we encourage submissions that bring a critical Indigenous lens, drawing on Indigenous theories, knowledge, and methods, to the specific topic that is the focus of each session..

The activist session welcomes abstracts for presentations on activism around our theme of “building solidarity & strengthening networks for health justice.” Taking into account numerous suggestions during our business/labor meeting at APHA 2020 that drew from participants’ knowledge of activism in & around Colorado, members of the Spirit of 1848 subcommittee organizing this session will also do outreach to activists engaged in Colorado-based organizing. Possible examples include activists involved in: mutual-aid organizing, environmental-justice initiatives, Black Lives Matter and anti-police violence movements, harm-reduction organizing, labor organizing – including those focused on day laborers and domestic workers, reproductive-justice movements, and poor-people’s movements. Thus, organizing for this session will involve not only putting out our “open call” for abstracts, but also ensuring this call is seen by relevant progressive groups in the Colorado area.

If you have any questions, please contact the session organizers, who are Spirit of 1848 Coordinating Committee members: Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot, Rebekka Lee, and Catherine Cubbin.

2) SOCIAL HISTORY OF PUBLIC HEALTH SESSION (Mon, Oct 25, 2021, 10:30am -- 12 noon):

Title: “Building Transnational Solidarity for Health Justice: Critical Historical Perspectives.”

NOTE: All abstracts for this session will be SOLICITED (Due: April 12, 2021).

The reopening of national borders in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis may be accompanied by calls for renewal of transnationalism in the health arena. Given the manifold ways that the neoliberal capitalist model of transnational corporate “partnerships”/exploitation has been demonstrated to harm people’s health, it is crucial in this aspirational moment of world order transformation to examine alternative, community-based models of transnational people’s cooperation and solidarity that have, past and present, promoted health justice. In this session, we will draw upon specific historical examples in which grassroots/local/Indigenous activists built transnational coalitions/alliances to counter imperialist and racist political violence, the brutality of extractive capitalist practices, and other forms of oppression, while nurturing cooperative models linking local resistance to transnational movements that promote (d) peaceful, healthful, and just living and working conditions for all.

The overall aim of the session will be to draw upon historical case studies and examples in order to understand, illuminate, and inspire contemporary movements to protect and empower people to survive, resist, and overcome various forms of oppression in order to achieve health justice.

Potential case studies will include:

The transnationally-based “Grassroots Anti-Fascism” of the Philadelphia National Negro Congress which coalesced in the wake of Italy’s 1935-36 invasion of Ethiopia, and linked colonialism and fascism to racial capitalism, in order to galvanize members of the black working class to build an egalitarian social order that prioritized the health and safety of workers and communities.

Histories of transnational solidarity in opposition to rapacious mining and other extractive industries that harm worker, community, environmental, and above all Indigenous health and well-being. Specific case studies centered in Colorado - the site of the conference – as well as Latin America, Australia, Canada, and the Arctic will be considered. Histories of transnational medical and nursing volunteers in resistance movements to fascism or other authoritarian regimes, such as the British, U.S. and Canadian volunteers in the Republican Medical Services during the Spanish civil war of 1935-37.

Critical historical analysis of cases such as these will draw connections to larger struggles to build coalitions and movements across borders of cultures, nations, and continents. They may also provide insights relevant to contemporary grassroots movements for transnational solidarity to resist authoritarianism, structural racism, and extractive industries that harm human health by degrading the environment, destroying livelihoods, and expropriating spiritually significant resources in the name of profit.

Presenters may be joined by a discussant who can make connections between the different case studies and link them to the larger Spirit of 1848 theme, Building Solidarity & Strengthening Networks for Health Justice.

-- This session will be developed by the history subcommittee: Marian Moser Jones, Anne-Emanuelle Birn, Luis A. Aviles.

-- Note: all abstracts for this session will be SOLICITED (due: April 12, 2021). Per Spirit of 1848 policy, we will include presentations that bring a critical Indigenous lens, drawing on Indigenous theories, knowledge, and methods. .

3) POLITICS OF PUBLIC HEALTH DATA SESSION (Mon, Oct 25, 2021, 2:30 - 4:00pm):

Title: "Solidarity, social movements, and uses of data by, for, and against health justice work"

NOTE: presentations for this session will be drawn primarily from abstracts submitted in response to the OPEN CALL for abstracts (Due: March 28, 2021), supplemented by solicited abstracts as warranted.

-- Possible foci for presentations, all in relation to issues of health justice, might be:

(1) how health justice activist, social movements, and public health researchers and practitioners can use data (including app-based data, e.g. for contact tracing; other public health monitoring data; other Big Data) and shape data governance for progressive ends –with a critical eye on what sorts of ethical informed consent practices are followed in the collection of these data and who governs use of and has access to the data;

(2) how state surveillance and exclusionary data governance can be used against health justice activists (e.g., facial recognition technologies used by police departments in cities and universities as deployed against protestors publicly challenging health injustices, with no accountability for use of these data), and impacts this can happen on other types of public health data collection (e.g., increase mistrust of contact tracing)

(3) public health monitoring data: ethical & health justice considerations in the governance, design and use of the systems, including in relation to who is included in these processes, and data governance, data structure and methodology decisions from the start, and solutions for filling gaps in missing data and making data governance transparent and inclusive.

Per our Spirit of 1848 policy, we encourage submissions that bring a critical Indigenous lens, drawing on Indigenous theories, knowledge, and methods, to the specific topic that is the focus of each session.

If you have any questions, please contact the session organizers, who are Spirit of 1848 Coordinating Committee members Zinzi Bailey, Catherine Cubbin, Craig Dearfield, and Nancy Krieger.

4) PROGRESSIVE PEDAGOGY SESSION (Tues, Oct 26, 2021, 8:30 - 10:00am):

Title: "Teaching for solidarity with social movements for health justice."

Note: presentations for this session will be primarily drawn from abstracts submitted in response to the OPEN CALL for abstracts (Due: March 28, 2021), supplemented by solicited abstracts as warranted.

Overall, we seek submissions for practical presentations that focus on pedagogy that enhances capacity for teaching and organizing with radical science for health justice. This includes the pedagogies that are being (re)developed through decolonizing epistemologies and other ways of re-framing knowledge and voice. We call for work that shows how such pedagogy can be carried out, in both: (1) diverse academic settings, e.g., universities and colleges (including community colleges), health professional schools (public health, nursing, medical, dental, veterinary, etc), high schools, and elementary schools, and (2) training programs for community and workplace activists, organizations, and members. We also welcome student-led presentations focused on how to bring such pedagogy into their educational programs.

-- As usual, we will call for work that shows how such pedagogy can be carried out, in both: (1) diverse academic settings, e.g., universities and colleges (including community colleges), health professional schools (public health, nursing, medical, dental, veterinary, etc), high schools, and elementary schools, and (2) training programs for community and workplace activists, organizations, and members. We also welcome student-led presentations focused on how to bring such pedagogy into their educational programs.

-- Possible topics, all with a focus on health justice, might include:

(1) courses on how to meaningfully and comprehensively build solidarity for health justice, including in relation to anti-Black racism – as opposed to window dressing, superficial trainings, and lip service

(2) courses on health justice issues in rural Colorado

(3) courses on sustaining long term vision and sustainability, including work that supports multigenerational/seventh generation struggles

Per our Spirit of 1848 policy, we encourage submissions that bring a critical Indigenous lens, drawing on Indigenous theories, knowledge, and methods, to the specific topic that is the focus of each session .

If you have any questions, please contact the session organizers, who are Spirit of 1848 Coordinating Committee members Vanessa Simonds, Lisa Moore, Rebekka Lee, and Nylca Muñoz.

5) INTEGRATIVE SESSION (Tues, Oct 26, 2021, 10:30am -- 12 noon:

Title: "Social movements: using public health data in solidarity for the fight for social justice."

NOTE: All abstracts for this session will be SOLICITED (due: April 12, 2021).

This session will focus on (a) examples of cases where use of extant public health data has been useful to the work of social movements; (b) examples of cases where social movements have called on public health researchers to address gaps in data they need to understand and organize around issues of social justice & public health; and (c) examples of cases where public health researchers & practitioners have brought issues and data to the attention of social movements, to help inform their work. Per our Spirit of 1848 policy, we encourage submissions that bring a critical Indigenous lens, drawing on Indigenous theories, knowledge, and methods, to the specific topic that is the focus of each session.

Groups selected to present will be identified in January 2021, in light of the US political context at that time (as shaped by results of the Nov 4, 2020 elections). Possible examples include: Black Lives Matter; Black Future’s Lab; Poor People’s Campaign; People’s Budget movement (see, for example: https://www.peoplesbudget.org/ ; https://peoplesbudgetla.com/peoplesbudget/ ; https://peoplesbudgetoc.org/ ; http://peoplesbudgetsac.com/ ; https://peoplesbudgetchicago.com/ ; https://peoplesbudgetbirmingham.org/actnow/ ; http://peoplesbudgetnj.org/ ; https://www.peoplesbudget.eu/ ) ; Green New Deal (e.g., Sunrise); People’s Health Movement ; Indigenous movement organizations, such as: Indigenous Environmental Network, Honor the Earth, Earth Guardians, or Idle No more; Damayan Migrant Workers Association.

If you have any questions, please contact the session organizer, Spirit of 1848 Coordinating Committee member Nancy Krieger (email: nkrieger@hsph.harvard.edu)

6) STUDENT POSTER SESSION: SOCIAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC HEALTH (Tues, Oct 26, 2021, 1:00 - 2:00pm):

For the APHA Annual Meeting 2021, the Spirit of 1848 Social Justice & Public Health Student Poster Session is issuing an OPEN CALL FOR ABSTRACTS for posters that highlight the intersections between social justice and public health from a historical, theoretical, epidemiological, ethnographic, and/or methodological perspective.

This session will have an OPEN CALL for submissions by students (undergraduate or graduate) that are focused on work linking issues of social justice and public health. This can include, but is not limited to, work concerned with the Spirit of 1848’s focus for APHA 2021 on “Building solidarity & strengthening networks for health justice.” Per our Spirit of 1848 policy, we encourage submissions that bring a critical Indigenous lens, drawing on Indigenous theories, knowledge, and methods, to the specific topic that is the focus of this session, i.e., student posters on links between social justice & public health.

The submitted work can address one or more of many interlocking types of justice (e.g., racial, Indigenous, political and/or economic, gender and/or sexuality-related, environmental, restorative, etc.) We are interested in submissions not only from students in schools of public health and other health professions (e.g., nursing, medicine) but also from students in schools & programs focused on law, political science, public policy, social work, government, economics, sociology, urban planning, etc. For examples of abstracts selected in prior years, see our annual reportbacks.

Abstracts are due March 28, 2021; all relevant instructions can be found at the APHA abstract submission website; see: http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual

Note: to address the on-going problem of student uncertainty about funding, which has led to students with accepted posters withdrawing their submissions, we will continue with the successful approach we newly implemented in 2016, whereby we will: (1) accept the top 10 abstracts (the limit for any poster session); (2) set up a waitlist of all runner-up potentially acceptable posters (ranked in order of preference); and (3) reject abstracts that either are not focused on issues of social justice and public health or are not of acceptable quality. If any accepted poster is withdrawn, we will replace it with a poster from the waitlist (in rank order).

For any questions about this session, please contact Spirit of 1848 Student Poster Coordinating Committee members Charlene Kuo, with support from Eli Godwin, Erin Nolen, Lauren Ramsey, and Stephanie Teeple.

APHA Reminders re: Abstract Requirements & Continuing Education Credits:

NOTE: it is important that our Spirit of 1848 sessions be approved for CE credits, so that public health & clinical professionals can get CE credits in sessions focused on the links between social justice & public health! – so please be sure to read these instructions carefully!!!

1. APHA ABSTRACT REQUIREMENTS:
• Abstracts should be no more than 250 words
• All presenters must be Individual members of APHA in order to present.
• All presenters must register for the meeting.
• Abstracts cannot be presented or published in any journal prior to the APHA Annual Meeting.

2. CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS
APHA values the ability to provide continuing education credit to physicians, nurses, health educators and those certified in public health at its annual meeting. Please complete all required information when submitting an abstract so members can claim credit for attending your session. These credits are necessary for members to keep their licenses and credentials.

For a session to be eligible for Continuing Education Credit, each presenter, panelist, discussant, and/or faculty must provide:
• An abstract free of trade and/or commercial product names (and this includes the names of any books you have published!);

• At least one MEASURABLE outcome (DO NOT USE "To understand” or “To learn” as objectives, they are not measurable).

o Examples of Acceptable Measurable Action Words:
Explain, Demonstrate, Analyze, Formulate, Discuss, Compare, Differentiate, Describe, Name, Assess, Evaluate, Identify, Design, Define or List.

• A signed Conflict of Interest (Disclosure) form with a relevant qualification Statement. See an example of an acceptable Qualification Statement on the online Disclosure form.

o Examples of Acceptable Biographical Qualification Statement:
• “I have been the principal or co-principal of multiple federally funded grants focusing on the epidemiology of drug abuse, HIV prevention and co-occurring mental and drug use disorders. Among my scientific interests has been the development of strategies for preventing HIV and STDs in out-of-treatment drug users.”

• “I am qualified because I have conducted research in the area of maternal and child health for the past 20 years and have given multiple presentations on this subject.”

Please note that "I am the Principle Investigator of this study" is NOT an acceptable qualification statement. Nor it is acceptable to state: “I am qualified because I am a professor at XYZ University.”

Contact Mighty Fine if you have any questions concerning continuing education. Please contact the program planner for all other questions.

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