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November 17, 2009
Call for papers: Fitting for Health: the Economy of Medical Technology in
Europe and its Colonies, 1600-1850 2-3 September 2010, Paris
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From: H-Net Announcements <announce@MAIL.H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Fitting for Health: the Economy of Medical Technology in Europe and its
Colonies, 1600-1850
Location: France
Call for Papers Deadline: 2010-11-30
Date Submitted: 2009-11-15
Announcement ID: 172032
Fitting for Health: the Economy of Medical Technology in Europe and its
Colonies, 16001850
Equiper la sante l'economie de l'instrumentation medicale en Europe et
dans ses colonies, 1600-1850
Paris, 2-3 September 2010.
Call for papers
Is the history of medicine that of its instruments? (Henri Sigerist). In
spite of the importance of material tools for diagnosis and therapeutic
practices since Antiquity, we have insufficient knowledge of medical
equipment, its uses or production. Yet, recent studies have emphasized the
importance of the forceps in the successful management of difficult
births, the role of ceramic in the storage and commercial display of drugs
in early modern Europe, the development of toyware and that of metallic
trusses sent to the colonies, or the visual technologies that linked
corpses, printed images, wax artefacts and instruments for diagnosis, to
give a few examples.
The conference aims to present highly innovative interdisciplinary
research on the material culture and practices of medicine, at the
crossroads of medical history, the history of technology and economic
history. Considering Europe and its colonies between 1600 the beginning
of herniary surgery in France and 1850 the launching of world fairs the
conference will address two major issues:
1. The medical life of things
What was considered instrumental to medicine? Patients and practitioners
have used a wide variety of tools trusses, plasters, forceps, cutting
knives, herniary bandaging, electrical devices, baths, orthopaedic
machines, models, tools for diagnosis, up to plants transformed into
medical commodities or medicines. Some were similar to devices that are
still in use today; others have fallen into oblivion, thus challenging
medical museums curators who wish to present them before the public. What
were the technologies of the early modern patient and practitioner
surgeons, midwives, barbers, nurses, etc.? To what extent did the early
modern medical equipment contribute to the management of health, by
patients and/or practitioners and to the redefining of medical knowledge
and know-how? What type of medical trades did they help to set up or to
challenge? How did tools and commodities help redefining medical work? How
did they get into use, and how did they circulate among the medical
community?
2. Medical technologies, industry and commerce.
How were the products conceived and marketed? How was the production of
medical instrumentation organized? To what extent had the trade recourse
to patenting, the expert evaluation of academies, such as the Acadamie
royale de chirurgie? Which industrial trades and production sectors did it
bring together? How was it funded? Did medical instruments makers exploit
new channels for the retailing of their instruments such as
nineteenth-century French industrial fairs or use old ones? What were the
routes of medical instruments to individual practitioners, public
charities, national armies or to the colonies?
The conference will bring together scholars working on different places
and periods with the view to contribute to a European history of medical
instruments and medicine in its global context.
Scholars are invited to send a abstract in English or French stating the
subject of their presentation, their sources and methodologies, before
November 30th, 2010. They will state their contact details.
Organization : Contact :
Christelle Rabier
Institut d'histoire moderne et contemporaine
Ecole normale superieure
45, rue d'Ulm
F-75005 Paris
E-mail: christelle.rabier@gmail.com
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