Tag Archives: Oxford

Canadian Bulletin of the History of Medicine: Degeneration, Eugenics, Psychosis, & Shell Shock

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The Spring 2016 issue of the Canadian Bulletin of the History of Medicine/Bulletin canadien d’histoire de la médecine, now under the editorship of Erika Dyck and Kenton Kroker, includes a number of articles that will be of interest to AHP readers. These articles address the concept of degeneration in Quebec, eugenics and the 1917 Ontario Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Mentally Defective and Feeble-Minded, the notion of “Early Psychosis,” and shell shock as a concern in Oxford during World War One. Full titles, authors, and abstracts follow below.

“Entre médecine, culture et pensée sociopolitique : le concept de dégénérescence au Québec (1860–1925),” by Johanne Collin and David Hughes. The abstract reads,

La présente étude se penche sur les rapports entre la psychiatrie, la culture et la pensée sociopolitique au Québec. Notre approche s’inspire des travaux de Mark Micale sur le concept d’hystérie en France. Dans The Mind of Modernism, Micale démontre l’omniprésence de l’hystérie dans l’imaginaire collectif français au tournant du siècle. Notre objectif est de déterminer si un concept psychiatrique a pu jouer un rôle semblable au Québec à la même période. Nous démontrons que le concept de dégénérescence a pénétré la nosographie officielle, les publications médicales, les revues, la fiction ainsi que les discours sociopolitiques québécois.

In The Mind of Modernism, Mark Micale demonstrates the ubiquity of the concept of hysteria in the French imagination at the turn of the century. Taking this approach as our starting point, our study attempts to determine if the notion of degeneration played a similar role in the interactions of psychiatry, culture and politics in Quebec. Our analysis of a variety of historical sources demonstrates that the concept of degeneration did indeed penetrate aspects of psychiatric nosology, medical literature, news media, fiction, and political discourse in Quebec.

“An Evil Hitherto Unchecked: Eugenics and the 1917 Ontario Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Mentally Defective and Feeble-Minded,” by C. Elizabeth Koester. The abstract reads, Continue reading Canadian Bulletin of the History of Medicine: Degeneration, Eugenics, Psychosis, & Shell Shock →

CfP: “Alcohol Flows Across Cultures: Drinking Cultures in Transnational & Comparative Perspective”

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A call for papers has been issued for a research symposium on alcohol consumption across cultures that will take place at St. Anne’s College, Oxford at the end of June, 2016. Full details follow below.

Alcohol flows across cultures: Drinking cultures in transnational and comparative perspective

Wednesday 29 June 2016 – Thursday 30 June 2016
Location: St Anne’s College, Oxford

Details

International Research Symposium

Alcohol consumption is currently seen as a major public health hazard across the globe. The medicalisation of alcohol use has become a prominent discourse that guides policy makers and impacts public perceptions of alcohol and drinking. This symposium intends to map the historical and cultural dimension of these phenomena and to trace the development of changing attitudes to consumption and historical and contemporary representations of alcohol and drinking in different regions, from the pre-modern to the postcolonial period. Emphasis is on the connected histories of different regions and populations across the globe in terms of their consumption patterns, government policies, economics and representations of alcohol and drinking. This transnational perspective facilitates an understanding of the local, transnational and global factors that have had a bearing on alcohol consumption and legislation and on the emergence of particular styles of ‘drinking cultures’. A comparative approach helps identify similarities, differences and crossovers between particular regions and pinpoint the parameters that shape alcohol consumption, policies and perceptions. The exploration of plural drinking cultures within any one particular region, their association with particular social groups, and their continuities and changes in the wake of wider global, colonial and postcolonial economic, political and social constraints and exchanges will be important dimensions of analysis.

Compensation for travel expenditure and local hospitality during the conference is aimed at but cannot be guaranteed. The closing date for abstracts (300 words) is 10 January 2016. Please indicate the primary source base of your contribution in your abstract, and clearly state your research questions, aims and arguments.

Contact for submission of abstracts and for inquiries:
Professor Waltraud Ernst, wernst@brookes.ac.uk
Professor David Foxcroft, david.foxcroft@brookes.ac.uk