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About this Symposium

"Cancer Stories" is a three-day symposium organized around the premise that narratives about cancer have influenced the way in which cancer is experienced in America. Prose, poetry, performance, and the visual arts constitute the range of narratives the symposium will explore. We include both the production and reception of cancer stories by physicians, nurses, patients, artists, and advocates to explore how the cultural meaning of cancer has shaped the human and institutional response to it.

The symposium is designed to appeal to scholars, health care practitioners, working artists, and the general public. Leading scholars in illness narrative will deliver plenary lectures; others will lead workshops that permit more interactive and collaborative cross-disciplinary conversations. Plenary sessions and workshops should address the following topics:

• How have cancer narratives been understood and interpreted by historians, bioethicists, and cultural critics? What is the history (form and publication) of the cancer narrative?
  
• How do different forms of narrative expression represent the cancer experience? What does the relationship among these forms suggest about the role of cancer narratives in American culture?
  
• To whom do cancer stories matter and why? How do women, men, and children represent the illness experience differently?
  
• How have cancer narratives altered the medical experience of patients and practitioners? To what extent have such narratives affected choice of treatment?
  
• What is the relationship between cancer narrative and certain challenges of cancer such as end-of-life care and caregiver distress?

The purpose of the symposium is to illustrate how patients and practitioners have reframed the terms of their respective struggles and how they might do so in the future. We believe that scholars, practitioners, artists and people interested in the human aspects of the disease will gain a deeper appreciation of how the making and dissemination of narrative has changed collective knowledge about the disease.

"Cancer Stories" is a free symposium that will take place 6-8 November 2008, as one of a series of events surrounding the dedication of the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center (IUSCC) on the campus of the Indiana University School of Medicine and Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis. Following the symposium, plenary and workshop presenters will gather for a working session devoted to framing an edited volume of manuscripts relating to their presentations. Accommodation for participants is available in University Place Hotel, adjacent to symposium venues.

"Cancer Stories" is made possible by an Indiana University New Frontiers in the Arts and Humanities grant and the generous support of the Complete Life Program of the IUSCC. For further information, see Sponsors.