.jpg)
Event location
Guest Speaker Seminars will take place at Seminar Room 218, FHH (Frederik Holsts hus), 12:15-13:30.
Zoom link for those wishing to attend online.
Abstract
For this talk, I would like to spark discussion on the role of prefigurative practice and alternative imaginaries in political efforts for social and health equity. I will draw upon my ongoing PhD studies of the Oslo City Public Health Strategy for 2023-2030, a policy process initiated by the Oslo City Government to target social inequality in health. The Oslo Strategy promises to reduce social inequality in health by formulating a set of common definitions, goals, and approaches to social inequality in health to be implemented across Oslo City health and welfare initiatives. My researchexplores normative frameworks of social inequality and democratic citizenship embedded in the coming-into-being of the Oslo Strategy, and their relation to the Nordic universalist welfare imaginary. I ask how visions of social (in)equality become dominant in the strategy-making process, how forms of evidence are called upon to justify visions and tools of transformation, and how voices are lifted or silenced in ensuing debates. Situated in the field of political ethnography, the methods I employ include practice-oriented document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation. My preliminary findings lead me to argue that, while policymakers attempt to establish socialinequality in health as a core characteristic of contemporary Norwegian society in the Oslo Strategy, they simultaneously embed ideals of a future state of health equity within their policymaking practices. This leads me to wonder whether increased democratic participation in prefigurative policymaking practices can act as a countercurrent to epistemic and political injustice in the realms of health and social policy.
Bio:
Emma Lengle is a doctoral research fellow in Social Medicine at the Department of Community Medicine and Global Health, University of Oslo. She holds an MD from the same university and a Master of Public Health from Harvard University. Emma’s research is located at the intersection of health policy and social justice, with a particular focus on issues of political and epistemic inequity in policy development and implementation. Her doctoral research employs ethnographic methods to explore a municipal strategy-making process aiming to reduce social inequality in health in Oslo, Norway. Emma is also affiliated with the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare Education at the University of Oslo where she collaborates with a team of international health policy researchers on the topic of global governance for health. Prior to taking up her current role, Emma has held positions at UNICEF, Physicians for Human Rights, the Oslo Public Emergency Ward and the Norwegian Medical Association.