Friday 10th June 2011, UCL’s Centre for the History of Medicine
Entry is free and all are welcome to attend. However, places are limited, so
those who are interested should contact Emma Sutton ([log in to unmask])
to reserve a place. This one-day symposium will open up discussion about all
aspects of the place of Biography in the History of Psychology and
Psychiatry. The main themes of the day will include questions such as:
Do biographical studies occupy a special or privileged position within the
historiography of these human sciences?
What is biography? What kinds of questions can biographies hope to answer?
And where should biographers not venture?
How historically have Psychologists and Psychiatrists themselves used
individual patient ‘biographies’ to construct and legitimise their theories?
Can biography, as an immensely popular format, offer a vehicle for
introducing more complex historical analysis to the general public?
Academic speakers will include:
Professor Daniel Todes, (John Hopkins University)
‘Ivan Pavlov: "Objective" science as autobiography’
Dr Mathew Thomson, (Warwick University)
‘Narrating the Life of David Eder, Britain's First Psychoanalyst:
Reflections on the Biographical in the History of Psy’
Dr Roderick Buchanan, (University of Melbourne)
‘Confessions of the reluctant biographer: Legacies and tensions of the
biographical approach in the history of psychology’
Mr James Good, (Durham University)
‘Title TBC’
Dr Peter Hegarty, (University of Surrey)
‘From ideal husbands to inadequate wives: Gerrymandering marital happiness
with the man who made IQ’
Ms Sarah Chaney, (UCL)
‘”Hallucinations do not affect his will": Nineteenth Century Asylum Case
Histories and the Psychiatric Method’
Ms Corina Palasan, (UCL)
‘Criminals' stories. Use of biographical data in juvenile delinquency
research at the Institute of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Cluj
University, Romania, 1920-1940.’
The event will culminate in a panel-led discussion about the publishing and
public engagement issues surrounding biographical approaches to the History
of Science and Medicine. Panel guests will include Mark Pollard from the
publishing house Pickering and Chatto.
Dr Carole Reeves
Outreach Historian
UCL Centre for the History of Medicine
183 Euston Road
London NW1 2BE
Tel: +44 (0)207 679 8135
Email: [log in to unmask]
Website: www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed
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