Friday Morning Seminar in Culture, Psychiatry and Global Mental Health

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Date and Time

October 9, 2026
10:00AM - 12:00PM EDT
Attend this event via Zoom

Beyond Containment: Ebola, Colonial Legacies, and Reparative Justice in the DRC

This seminar situates the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo within a framework of (de)coloniality, arguing that enslavement, extractivism, fabricated identities, armed conflict, and the dismissal of local knowledge production are fundamental determinants of disease vulnerability and community mistrust. It contends that containment alone is insufficient and that meaningful intervention must be reparative, involving epistemic justice, wealth redistribution, and redress for ongoing and historical violence.

Speaker

  • Eugene Richardson, Faculty Associate. Director, HMS Planetary Health Lab; Assistant Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine; Department of Global Health and Social Medicine; Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

Moderator

  • Byron Good, Faculty Associate. Professor of Medical Anthropology, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Professor, Social Anthropology Program, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University.

Contact

Francesco Rolando
francesco.rolando@g.harvard.edu

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The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about the access provided, please get in touch with the person listed as the contact on the individual event listing in advance of your participation or visit. Requests for Sign Language interpreters and/or CART providers should be made at least two weeks in advance, if possible. Please note that the Weatherhead Center will make every effort to secure services, but that services are subject to availability.