“Stay Healthy, Stay Happy” Is Dangerous Language
May 15, 2020
Emily Yates-Doerr, PhD
Assistant Professor
School of Language, Culture, and Society
College of Liberal Arts
Oregon State University
As a medical anthropologist with expertise in how people interpret health policies, Dr. Yates-Doerr will discuss the need to attend to how the language used in health policy impacts people's everyday lives. She will discuss limitations of the COVID-19 slogan -- "stay home, stay healthy" – and how it reinforces misconceptions about how many people live. With the risk that the slogan will of do more harm than good, she argues for the need for more inclusive messaging about the dangers of the novel coronavirus.
Emily Yates-Doerr, PhD, Assistant Professor in the OSU School of Language, Culture, and Society, is a medical anthropologist with expertise in the linkages between health, food, and social inequality. She has a PhD in Anthropology from New York University, a Masters in Latin American Studies from Stanford University, and undergraduate degrees in Human Biology and Anthropological Sciences from Stanford University. Before joining the faculty at OSU, she spent seven years at the University of Amsterdam.
The college-wide research seminar series is co-sponsored by the College Research Office; the Hallie Ford Center; the Center for Healthy Aging; the Moore Family Center for Whole Grain Foods, Nutrition and Preventive Health; and the Center for Global Health. The seminar series provides a forum for faculty in the College and other researchers to present and discuss current research topics in an environment conducive to stimulating research collaboration and fostering student learning.