Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026 from 12:30-2:00PM

Location: Calder Lounge (Uris Hall, Room 107)

Series: American Body Politics 

Speakers: Anthony Petro (University of Notre Dame) and Hannah Zaves-Greene (Brandeis University)

Moderator: Jamie Marsella (University of Toronto) 

What does it mean to be healthy? Are we responsible for the health of others? Are we responsible for our own? The concept of health in the United States is slippery, built on an ever-shifting foundation of scientific, religious, and moral ideas. As the Covid-19 pandemic made painfully clear, moments of health crisis surface competing visions of health, revealing the ways our existing systems of care ignore the needs of the disabled, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. This conversation brings together historians of religion, science, and sexuality in the twentieth century to situate our current moment in a longer history of health and disability in the United States as both a scientific and religious question.

Free and open to the public

Registration is required—Please register in advance to reserve your spot

Registration instructions: All guests must register in advance to access Columbia's Morningside campus where the event will be held. If you do not have a Columbia University ID, please be sure to pre-register by Wednesday, September 23 at 3pm. Thank you for your assistance with the current campus registration instructions.

Columbia University makes every effort to accommodate individuals with disabilities. If you require disability accommodations to attend an event at Columbia University, please contact Disability Services (disability@columbia.edu or 212-854-2388) at least 10 days in advance of the event. Requests for CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) or sign language interpretation require two weeks' notice.