American Anthropological Association (AAA) 2025 Annual Meeting; New Orleans, Louisiana

Conference: American Anthropological Association (AAA) 2025 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana on November 19 – 23, 2025

Presentation: Haunted Health: Untaming Gloomy Prognoses, Lingering Resonances, and Folded Temporalities in Experiences of Health, Care, and Illness

Final Report:

With support from the Kellogg Institute, I presented my work at the American Anthropological Association (AAA) annual meeting as part of the roundtable titled “Haunted Health: Untaming gloomy prognoses, lingering resonances, and folded temporalities in experiences of health, care, and illness.” Composed of medical anthropologists with diverse areas of expertise, this roundtable explored how the conceptual framework of haunting might illuminate experiences of health and suffering. My contribution centered on the collective fears and anxieties surrounding the possibility of a major earthquake in Istanbul, Turkey.

In my presentation, I described how residents of the city grapple with what is commonly referred to as ‘The Anticipated Great Istanbul Earthquake’, an event that is predicted by seismologists to happen within the next decade. This threat has created a mood of constant vigilance and led many Istanbulites to take extraordinary measures - many residents now routinely practice drills, craft emergency kits, and make plans to move out of the city. Meanwhile, Turkey’s neoliberal and conservative government has largely disavowed the severity of the risk, pointing out the disaster preparation initiatives implemented over the past twenty years. However, many of these projects have been undermined by infrastructural neglect. Drawing from Jacques Derrida’s framework of hauntology, I theorized the threat of the anticipated earthquake as a form of haunting from the future. Through its persistent presence in everyday life, the disaster renders visible the vulnerabilities already embedded in the city, including the neoliberal dismantling of welfare programs, the erosion of democratic accountability, and territorial stigmatization.

The roundtable generated a rich intellectual discussion. As participants, we were able to engage closely with one another’s work and draw connections across different ethnographic contexts. My colleagues offered parallel examples from their own work where apocalyptic futures emerge as spectral figures; for instance, when the retrenchment of the welfare state shapes health citizenship and generates feelings of dread and desperation about the future. We also received thoughtful questions and comments from the audience about the ethics of anthropological research. Audience members urged us to consider how we can democratize our research endeavors by prioritizing local understandings of haunting, and this prompted a lively discussion between the panel and the audience.

The conference was essential for my scholarly and professional development. I received invaluable feedback during my panel, which will help me refine my theoretical outlook and dissertation plan. As the largest annual gathering of anthropologists, the conference also offered ample networking opportunities. I was able to connect with senior scholars with similar research interests as mine, who generously offered guidance and mentorship, and we discussed plans for future collaboration. This also allowed me to learn about professional development opportunities within the discipline. Additionally, I attended the business meeting of the Middle East Section (MES) of AAA, where I met with anthropologists working on related regional issues and gained insight into how I might contribute to the community. Overall, the conference was a highly impactful experience that advanced my professional development and enabled me to engage meaningfully in the intellectual conversations of my discipline.