Solidaristic inclusion through healthcare

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Wanda Spahl

22 December 2022

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Solidaristic inclusion through healthcare

GEOGRAPHY OF GHOSTS (ongoing project by Wanda Spahl and Dominic Schwab) - © Spahl & Schwab

Healthcare in the context of forced migration is not only about meeting medical needs. Using the services of the public health system is also important for political inclusion, as the example of Austria shows. Possessing a personal electronic health card or sharing the waiting room at the general practitioner's gives refugees a sense of belonging as patients among other patients.

Wanda Spahl

Wanda Spahl is a social scientist who researches health, migration and biopolitics. The research article introduced in this blog is part of her PhD project on refugees' health needs in Austria (planned graduation spring 2023). She has already published on the topic in the Turkish context and with regard to the lived solidarity of care providers. She was a university assistant at the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Solidarity, University of Vienna, and co-leader of the research project "Solidarity in Times of a Pandemic". In 2022, Wanda Spahl co-founded PARABOL, an association that aims at advancing artistic research. For PARABOL, she works on digital artistic methods as an innovative way for (re-)presenting social science research and reflects their epistemological potential, for example through the ongoing artist – researcher collaboration GEOGRAPHY OF GHOSTS. Currently, she is also looking for a new job in her fields of expertise. Contact: wanda.spahl@univie.ac.at; @WandaSpahl