CALL FOR PAPERS
FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON URBAN HISTORY - European Cities:
Networks and Crossroads. Berlin, 31 August - 2 September 2000.
Main Session - HISTORY FROM BELOW: THE URBAN POOR AND THE
RECEPTION OF
MEDICINE AND CHARITY IN WESTERN EUROPEAN CITIES.
Histories of medicine and charity have been dominated by the donor and
the professional, leaving the experiences of patients and clients in
relative obscurity. This session will address the imbalance by
bringing into focus the recipient of assistance. Its aim is to
stimulate a wide discussion based on the urban poor of Western Europe,
and their encounters with medicine and charity during the medieval,
early modern and modern periods. Poor law and municipal health
services as well as philanthropic ventures will be included under the
heading of medicine, and charity will be broadly defined to include
children's homes, rescue societies for women and mission halls as well
as medical projects. Although statistical profiles of patients or
clients will be considered, priority will be given to papers which
either use documentary material (official papers; autobiography;
letters; literature) to access the personal testimonies of recipients,
or deploy other sources (oral history; the visual imagery of art,
photography and film; readings of institutional and urban space) to
develop a 'history from below'. Proposals which address the
following themes will be particularly welcome: (a) the nature of the
gift as a reciprocal relationship; (b) the transaction of professional
expertise as a power relationship; (c) the rejection of unpalatable
help by potential beneficiaries; (d) the interaction of inmates within
institutional settings; (e) the economic and social networks of
recipients, their families and local communities; (f) the political
organization of patients and clients into 'consumer' pressure groups
and new social movements; and (g) middle class representations of the
urban poor.
For further information, please contact Anne Borsay or Peter Shapely
at the addresses below. The deadline for abstracts (one side of A4) is
1 October 1999.
Dr Anne Borsay, Department of History, University of Wales Lampeter,
LAMPETER, Ceredigion, SA48 7ED, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1570 422351. Fax:
+44 (0)1570 423885. E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Dr Peter Shapely, School of History and Welsh History, University of
Wales Bangor, BANGOR, Gwynedd, LL57 2DG. Tel: +44 (0)1248 382144.
Fax: +44 (0)1248 382759. E-mail: [log in to unmask]
****************
David Cantor
Department of History and Economic History,
Manchester Metropolitan University,
Geoffrey Manton Building,
Rosamond St West,
Manchester M15 6LL
England.
+44 (0)161 247 3004 (tel)
+44 (0)161 247 6398 (fax)
[log in to unmask]
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