The workshop explores the intersections and overlaps of citizenship, race and health in the United States between the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. It will examine the importance of health and how it was negotiated and constructed in medical, cultural and political contexts by focusing on questions like: 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? The workshop will also look at how literary and cultural texts reflected these racialized understandings of health to answer these question.

Organizers: Pauline Fischer, Nina Mackert, Jürgen Martschukat, Paul Skäbe 

Target Group: Students, Teaching staff, Researchers

Date & Time: Thursday, June 11 2026, 4 p.m.–5.30 p.m.: Talk by Andrea Stone + discussion/Well-being in 19th century Black US-literature , 6 p.m.–7.30 p.m.: Talk by Samuel K. Roberts + Discussion/Governing Addiction: Race–Substance Stigma and the Politics of Expertise, from 7.30 p.m.: Conference Dinner 

Venue: SUB, Carl-von-Ossietzki Forum 

Registration: Open to all interested people on Thursday, without registration.