Reconstructing lives

Les membres du Crash sont heureux de vous convier à une conférence-débat en ligne sur notre site internet, avec l'anthropologue Vanja Kovačič, jeudi 17 février à 18h30. La conférence sera en anglais et traduite simultanément en français. L'autrice présentera son livre, tout récemment paru « Reconstructing Lives. Victims of war in the Middle East and Médecins Sans Frontières »  (Manchester University Press, traduction en français et en arabe à venir.)

C’est en 2006 que Médecins sans frontières ouvre un projet de prise en charge des blessés de guerre irakiens à Amman, en Jordanie, faute de pouvoir les soigner dans leur pays du fait des conditions de sécurité. Quinze ans plus tard, ce projet a élargi son recrutement aux victimes des conflits de l’ensemble des pays de la région : Yéménites, Syriens et Irakiens ainsi que quelques Palestiniens, s’y croisent. Au sein de l’hôpital d’Amman, la chirurgie constitue l’activité majeure : des techniques de chirurgie réparatrice, très peu usitées pour des blessés de guerre civils, sont ainsi mises en pratiques, tant dans le domaine orthopédique que dans celui de la reconstruction maxillo-faciale.

Anthropologue en immersion au sein de l’hôpital puis auprès des patients une fois revenus chez eux pendant près d’un an et demi, Vanja Kovačič a étudié les relations entre les patients et l’institution hospitalière : quelle est la trajectoire de ces blessés de guerre ? Quel regard portent-ils sur les soins qui leur sont prodigués ? Comment MSF intègre-t-elle les besoins exprimés par les patients eux-mêmes ? Comment envisager leur prise en charge au-delà de la technique, notamment sur le plan de la réinsertion sociale ? De cette longue enquête, Vanja Kovačič a tiré un livre publié en ce début d’année 2022 « Reconstructing Lives. Victims of war in the Middle East and Médecins Sans Frontières » (Manchester University Press).

Elle viendra nous en parler lors d’une conférence / débat du Crash, à l’occasion de laquelle nous échangerons plus largement autour de la question des relations entre soignants et patients et de la place de ces derniers dans leurs parcours de soin.


The members of the Crash team are happy to welcome you all to an online conference-debate with anthropologist Vanja Kovačič, on Thursday 17th of February, starting at 6:30PM, on the Crash's website. The conference will be in English and simultaneously translated into French. The author will introduce her recently-published book "Reconstructing lives Victims of war in the Middle East and Médecins Sans Frontières" (Manchester University Press, translation in English and Arabic coming soon.)

In 2006, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) launched a project to take care of wounded Iraqi civilians, in Amman, Jordan, as MSF could not give them proper care in their home country due to the lack of security. Fifteen years later, this project widened its scope to victims of conflict in all the region. Now, Yemenis, Syrians, and Iraqis, as well as some Palestinians benefit from the care provided there. In the Amman hospital, surgery is the principal activity: reparative surgery practices, rarely used for wounded civilians during wars, are implemented in the hospital, both in orthopaedic surgeries as well as maxilla-facial reconstruction procedures.

As an anthropologist working in the hospital, and with patients who came back home Vanja Kovačič has studied during a year and a half, the relations between patients and the hospital, as an institution: what is the trajectory of these war wounded civilians? How do they perceive the care they are receiving? How is MSF integrating the needs expressed by the patients themselves? How can we envision their social reinsertion, beyond the technical aspect of the care they are receiving? Vanja Kovačič has made a book out of this extensive investigation, released in the beginning of this year: Reconstructing Lives. Victims of war in the Middle East and Médecins Sans Frontières” (Manchester University Press).

She will introduce the book for a Crash conference/debate, during which we will have the opportunity to discuss more broadly the question of the relationship between caregivers and patients, as well as the patient’s place in the health care receiving process.

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