ONE-DAY SYMPOSIUM – CALL FOR PAPERS
Whither the History of Nineteenth-Century Medicine?
Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, University of Manchester
10.30 am – 5.00 pm, Friday 23 April 2010
During the 1980s and early 1990s, the nineteenth century lay at the very
heart of medical historical scholarship. Indeed, many historians chose to
focus on this period precisely because they believed that it was in the
nineteenth century that modern medicine was born. Historians charted the
‘rise’ of the profession and of hospital and laboratory medicine. They
traced the development of social medicine and public health and reflected on
the increasing involvement of medical practitioners in everyday life.
Meanwhile, historians of psychiatry, spurred on by the intellectual legacy
of Michel Foucault, sought to understand the asylum as a social, cultural
and political institution.
In the last decade or so, however, things have changed. Historians of
medicine continue to work on the nineteenth century but the energy and sense
of purpose which used to infuse so much of the earlier work seems to have
subsided. By and large, scholars are content to work within their own
particular field without addressing the ‘big’ questions which used to frame
the analyses of an earlier generation. Meanwhile, many historians of
medicine are now looking to the twentieth century, perhaps under the
impression that the major themes of the nineteenth have already been
thoroughly researched.
This workshop seeks to address this state of affairs and to ask where the
history of nineteenth-century medicine goes from here. Exciting and
important research is certainly being carried on but what are the key
questions that historians are asking? What are the major themes being
examined and what areas remain unexplored? Is it, for example, possible to
write ‘new’ accounts of psychiatry or public health? How are new histories
of institutions, such as hospitals and asylums, to be written? Are there
new histories of ‘big’ diseases to be uncovered or histories of neglected
diseases and conditions, especially the chronic and non-fatal? Can we
elaborate a more effective account of the nineteenth-century medical
marketplace? And with all the work that has been done on representation, it
is now time to write a history of practice?
Applications to present 20-minute papers are invited from anyone working in
the field of nineteenth-century medicine. Please submit a title and one
page abstract of proposed papers to [log in to unmask] or
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The deadline for submission of abstracts is 31 January 2010.
There will be no conference fee. Morning coffee, a sandwich lunch and
afternoon tea will be provided.
Michael Brown and Michael Worboys
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