Shielding Power: Early Formulations of the Immune Self
Audience: Public Format: In Person
A sociopolitical perspective to histories of immunology by tracing early discourses of immunity as they circulated beyon
Friday, 26 June 2026, 2.30pm to 4pm
This event offers a sociopolitical perspective to histories of immunology by tracing early discourses of immunity as they circulated beyond scientific developments and into public culture. Drawing on newspaper advertisements from Britain, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, I identify earlier conceptualizations of immunity within interconnected colonial and cultural contexts shaped by the British Empire and outline how immunitary logics of individualism, protection, risk management, labour, and power were formed within marketing media. Advertisements framed immunity as a purchasable and personal asset, offering security against modern anxieties such as disease, environmental instability, social uncertainty, and the loss of power. Foregrounding immunity as an individual responsibility and commercial ideal, these narratives emphasized isolation and defence rather than interdependence, embedding conservative immunitary logics that prioritized the individual over the group, sought to retain power, and presented the nonhuman as threat.
Speaker(s): Maebh Long (University of Otago), Ann Kelly (Anthropology, University of Oxford), Rachel Hindmarsh (University of Oxford), Sally Frampton (University of Oxford)
Series: TORCH Medical Humanities
Venue:
Schwarzman Centre - Room 00.063
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Room 00.063 Schwarzman Centre Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road Oxford Oxfordshire OX2 6GG United Kingdom
Department: The Uehiro Oxford Institute (Department)
Organiser: Alberto Giubilini
Host: Alberto Giubilini
Register here: https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/shielding-power-early-formulations-of-the-immune-self
More info:
Speaker: Professor Maebh Long, Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, University of Otago