Sports, Medicine and Immortality: From Ancient China to the World-Wide Web
Convened prior to the Beijing Olympics, this interdisciplinary conference
explores how critical appraisal of the history of sports, body cultivation
and sports medicine can contribute to our shared experience of health today.
Historians, medics and sociologists will speak to three principle domains:
the health equation of games past and future, the perfection and healing of
body and soul, and the delivery of future legacies positive in cultural
regeneration, societal cohesion, health and well-being.
Ancient regimen and techniques may seem remote, yet the practices often
attempt to resolve issues that are common to us all. Some are directed at
the immortality or longevity of the physical body, and include
performance-enhancing nutrition and drug-taking, others train the spirit and
souls for the afterlife. Many emphasise the interconnectedness of the human
body with its environment.
Speakers will be asked to set their topic in its broad socio-political and
cultural context to facilitate a dialogue with those who will address
similar questions for the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The
conference will provide text and illustrations for a variety of print and
online publications associated with on going projects in the run up to the
London Olympics.
Conference Convenors:
Dr Vivienne Lo - Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL
Professor Adrian Renton - Director of Institute of Health and Human
Development, University of East London
For further information, including registration, please click on the
following link <http://tinyurl.com/yno68d> http://tinyurl.com/yno68d or
email <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]
Submitted by Prof. Harold Cook, Director, Wellcome Trust Centre for the
History of Medicine at UCL ([log in to unmask])
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