Medical Humanities Blog

CFP: The Stimulated Body and the Arts: The Nervous System and Nervousness in the History of Aesthetics

From: SMITH K.M. <katherine.smith@durham.ac.uk>

The Stimulated Body and the Arts: The Nervous System and Nervousness in the History of Aesthetics

International Interdisciplinary Conference
17-18 February 2011
Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease Durham University, UK
Venue: Hatfield College, Durham, UK
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 31 July 2010

This conference will discuss the history of the relationship between aesthetics and medical understandings of the body. Today's vogue for neurological accounts of artistic emotions has a long pedigree. Since G.S. Rousseau's pioneering work underlined the importance of models of the nervous system in eighteenth-century aesthetics, the examination of physiological explanations in aesthetics has become a highly productive field of interdisciplinary research. Drawing on this background, the conference aims to illuminate the influence that different medical models of physiology and the nervous system have had on theories of aesthetic experience. How have aesthetic concepts (for instance, imagination or genius) be grounded medically? What effect did the shift from animal spirits to modern neurophysiology have on aesthetics?

The medical effects of culture were not always regarded as positive. The second focus of the conference will be the supposed ability of excessive reading, music and so on to 'over-stimulate' nerves and cause nervousness, mental and physical illness, homosexuality and even death.
It will consider questions regarding the effects of various theories of neuropathology and psychopathology on the concept of pathological culture. What kinds of culture could lead to such over-stimulation? How was this medical critique of culture related to moral objections and changes in gender relations, politics and society? How was it linked to medical concern about lack of attention and willpower?

This interdisciplinary conference brings together scholars working in a wide range of fields, including not only the history of medicine but also in subjects such as art history, languages and musicology.

Abstracts for 20-minute papers (maximum 250 words) should be submitted electronically to the organisers by 31 July 2010 at the following
address:
James.kennaway@durham.ac.uk

Organisers
Dr James Kennaway
Professor Holger Maehle
Dr Lutz Sauerteig

http://www.dur.ac.uk/chmd/

_____________
Katherine Smith
Outreach Officer

Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease Wolfson Research Institute Durham University Queen's Campus University Boulevard Thornaby Stockton on Tees
TS17 6BH
Tel: + 44 (0)191 3340700
Email: Katherine.Smith@durham.ac.uk

On Fair Society, Fair Lives (The Marmot Review)

The Marmot review final report – Fair Society, Healthy Lives –
proposes new ways to improve everyone's health and reduce inequalities that it describes as 'unfair and unjust'.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot
University College London - Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, London – UK -
February 11, 2010

It concluded that, although health inequalities are normally associated with the poor, premature illness and death affects everyone below the wealthiest tier of English society.

Most people in England don't live as long as the rich and suffer more ill health, according to a major UCL-led review published today.

Website:  http://www.ucl.ac.uk/gheg/marmotreview/Documents

“……People living in the most deprived neighbourhoods will on average die seven years earlier than people living in the richest neighbourhoods. Even more disturbing, people living in poorer areas not only die sooner, but spend more of their lives with disability – an average total difference of 17 years. The review has estimated the cost of health inequalities in England:

• Productivity losses of £31 – 33 billion every year
• Lost taxes and higher welfare payments in the range of £20 – 32 billion per year
• Additional NHS healthcare costs well in excess of £5.5 billion per year
The review also predicts an increase in the cost of treating the various illnesses that result from inequalities in obesity alone to rise from £2 billion per year to nearly £5 billion per year by 2025.

The review calls for health inequalities to sit alongside tackling climate change as one of society’s core priorities. Creating a sustainable future is, the review argues, compatible with action to reduce health inequalities: sustainable local communities, active transport, sustainable food production, and zero carbon houses will all have health benefits across society.

The six main recommendations of the review are:

• Giving every child the best start in life
• Enabling all children, young people and adults to maximize their capabilities and have control over their lives
• Creating fair employment and good work for all
• Ensuring a healthy standard of living for all
• Creating and developing sustainable places and communities
• Strengthening the role and impact of ill-health prevention

Professor Marmot, whose commission included the President of the Royal College of Physicians, Professor Ian Gilmore, and the Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council, Professor Ian Diamond, said: "There will be those who say that our recommendations cannot be afforded, particularly in the current economic climate. We say that it is inaction that cannot be afforded, the economic and more importantly human costs are simply too high.  The health and wellbeing of today’s children, and of those children when they become adults, depend on us having the courage and imagination to do things differently, to put sustainability and well-being before a narrow focus on economic growth and bring about a more equal and fair society."

“…….Health Secretary Andy Burnham said the review would help the Government put in place a strategy to tackle health inequalities over the next decade.  “It is not right that where we live can dictate the state of our health. Everyone should have an equal chance at good health. I am passionate about getting to the heart of this issue and ensuring that young people can look forward to the same life expectancy regardless of where they are born. This report will help us make that historic achievement," Mr Burnham said….”…

______________________________________

Look, Michael Marmot is not Elton John; he's an academic, so there must be a pretty good reason he was knighted.  And there is: he is quite possibly the single most important person in the world when it comes to the social determinants of health, and, in particular, of documenting the effect of inequality on population health.  Take every chance you can to read his work, especially where it is available full-text and open-access, as it is here.

How can the matters discussed in this report be afforded anything but the highest normative priority? I repeatedly return to Aristotle's question: what kind of people do we wish to be?

(h/t Equidad)

CFP: Joint Atlantic Graduate Seminar on the History of Medicine

CALL FOR PAPERS

The 8th Annual Joint Atlantic Seminar for the History of Medicine, will be held the weekend of October 8-9, 2010, and hosted by the Department of History and program on the History of Science, Technology, Environment and Health at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. The seminar is organized and coordinated by graduate students across North America working in fields related to the history of medicine.  Our mission is to foster a sense of community and provide a forum for sharing and critiquing graduate research by peers from a variety of institutions and backgrounds.  For more information, including previous years’ programs, please visit * www.jointatlantic.org*.

Graduate students are encouraged to submit abstracts for research presentations on topics related to the history of health and healing; of medical ideas, practices, and institutions; and of illness, disease, and public health, from all eras and regions of the world. Abstracts should be no more than 350 words and should clearly state the purpose, thesis, methodology, and principal findings of the paper to be presented. Please note that abstracts more than 350 words in length will not be reviewed.

Speakers must be enrolled as graduate students at the time of the conference. Successful proposals will engage with relevant historiographic issues and the potential contribution to scholarship on the history of medicine and health. A panel of graduate students and faculty members from several different institutions will review the abstracts.

All abstracts should be submitted electronically (either as a MS Word document or as text in the body of an e-mail) to Bridget Gurtler and Dora Vargha, Co-Program Chairs, at *jasmedconf@gmail.com*.

The deadline for abstracts is SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2010.

It is not clear at this time whether or not we will be able to provide financial support for travel to participants. However, we will make every effort to provide free accommodation for presenters. We urge students whose papers are accepted to seek financial support from their home institutions to participate in the seminar. Registration for the conference is free.

Bridget Gurtler and DoraVargha

PhD Candidates

Department of History

Rutgers University, New Brunswick

*bgurtler@history.rutgers.edu*

*dvargha@history.rutgers.edu*

_______________________________________________

Almost makes me wish I were a graduate student again.  Almost.

(h/t H-SCI-MED-TECH)

Symposium on Disease and Disability in the Middles Ages and Renaissance

http://www.newberry.org/renaissance/conf-inst/diseasedisability.html

Newberry Library
Center for Renaissance Studies
Symposium on Disease and Disability in the Middles Ages and Renaissance
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Ruggles Hall, The Newberry Library

Due to space restrictions, registration in advance is required (see 
below).

9:30 a.m. Coffee and continental breakfast

10:00 a.m.

Disability in the Middle Ages

Kings and Cripples: Royal and Eccentric Bodies in Medieval Europe
Christopher Baswell, Barnard College and Columbia University

Mephibosheth in the Middle Ages: Disabilities, Children, and the Most 
Vulnerable of the Vulnerable in Medieval Europe
Walton O. Schalick III, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Does Sin Cause Disability? Some Medieval Perspectives
Edward Wheatley, Loyola University Chicago
Chair: Sandra Sufian, University of Illinois at Chicago

11:15–11:30 a.m. Break

11:30 a.m. Roundtable discussion with morning speakers
~
Lunch break
~
2:30–3:45 p.m.

Disease and the Body in the Renaissance

Sickening India
Jonathan Gil Harris, Georgetown University

Lessons from the Body: Shakespeare and the Ethics of Disease
Michael Schoenfeldt, University of Michigan
Scott Stevens, D'Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian Studies, The 
Newberry Library

Chair: Wendy Wall, Northwestern University

3:45–4:00 p.m. Break

4:00 p.m. Roundtable discussion with afternoon speakers

~

In conjunction with the symposium, the Newberry Consort early music 
chamber ensemble will present:

Music Hath Charms: Disease and Disability in Music
7:00 p.m., Ruggles Hall, The Newberry Library

Director David Douglass, along with soprano Ellen Hargis, 
harpsichordist David Schrader, and viola da gambist Craig Trompeter, 
will present a special program on how early modern people coped with 
illness through the power of music, from the depths of melancholy to a 
comic depiction of a gall bladder operation.

Everyone who registers in advance for the conference will receive a 
voucher for one free admission to the concert.

A reception will follow the concert.

Registration

This conference will include a continental breakfast, as well as a 
reception after the afternoon session. While there is no fee to attend 
this event, participants must register in advance by calling the 
Center for Renaissance Studies at 312.255.3514 or e-mailing 
renaissance [at] newberry.org.

Funds may be available for graduate students and faculty of Consortium 
institutions to travel to the Newberry Library to attend this program. 
Contact your Representative Council member or the Center for 
Renaissance Studies.

(h/t H-DISABILITY)

On Ghostwriting Policies & Elite Academic Medical Centers

Jeffrey Lacasse (Ariz. State Univ.) and Jeffrey Leo (Lincoln Memorial University) have published an article in PLoS Medicine entitled Ghostwriting at Elite Academic Medical Centers in the United States.  Like all articles in PLoS Medicine, the article is available full-text, open-access.  The article lacks an abstract, but here is an excerpt of the Background section (citations omitted):

Medical ghostwriting, the practice of pharmaceutical companies secretly authoring journal articles published under the byline of academic researchers, is a troubling phenomenon because it is dangerous to public health literature is thus a serious threat to public health . . .

In 2009, the Institute of Medicine recommended that US-based academic medical centers enact policies that prohibit ghostwriting by their faculties.  However, to date, there has been no systematic assessment of ghostwriting policies at academic medical centers. Since US-based academic medical centers generate biomedical research for a worldwide audience, we chose to conduct the first such investigation on elite US-based academic medical centers. Our methods are shown in Box 1. We sought to describe the current policy situation at US-based academic centers and then to propose an ideal ghostwriting policy.

Lacasse and Leo have made a career out of simultaneously debunking the chemical imbalance theory of depression and illustrating its prominence in DTC marketing, mass media, and popular culture regarding depression and mental illness.

Leo, it should also be noted, was the central figure in a recent publication ethics controversy involving the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The current article, of course, is recommended.

(h/t Pharmalot)