Over the 150 years of explicit research, the phenomenon of 'suicide' has been continuously bound and refined: to include certain deaths but not others; to represent, within the realm of human experience, a particular kind of a (politically mobilizable) problem; and to necessitate specific types of research and expertise, while making others nearly impossible. Throughout these efforts, 'suicide' remains an extremely slippery epistemic object, as scholars struggle to both recognize that it lies at an intersection of numerous realms of knowledge—including religion and morality, medicine and law, sociology and psychology, phenomenology and philosophy— while staying true to the practices and assumptions embedded in their respective disciplines and experiences.
In this context, Sanja Miklin focuses on the development of 'Suicidology', an explicitly interdisciplinary field that was founded in the 1960s, has since rapidly institutionalized, and might now be entering a (mid-life) scientific crisis. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative research, Miklin shows how 'suicide' has been shaped as an epistemic and a political object by factors both internal and external to suicide research, while contemplating the bigger questions of the promises, possibilities, and limitations of interdisciplinarity.
This workshop will take the format of a presentation and discussion of the topic, followed by Q+A. Lunch will be provided to those who RSVP.