Alexey Golubev1; 1 University of Houston, United States
Discussion
The paper examines the field of Soviet medical literacy during the Cold War when the Soviet government established a massive system for communication of medical knowledge to the public. Assuming a variety of media, genres, and forms, the communication of medical knowledge became inseparable from the visions and practices of socialist modernity, shaping one of its key questions: how to produce healthy bodies, rational selves, and productive citizens. In my paper, I will focus on one particular byproduct of Soviet medical propaganda: namely, how the state-sponsored efforts to produce universal medical literacy contributed to the individuation of care for one’s health, questioning and undermining the collectivist ideas of public health.
