Call for Papers: Interdisciplinary Material Cultures in the Medical Humanities – PGR Conference

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'Vendors of various types of remedies consulting about a patient; the vendors represented by their respective treatments and the patient by a goose

Interdisciplinary Material Cultures in the Medical Humanities – PGR Conference

Lancaster University, 24-25 July 2019

Closing date for submissions: Wednesday 15 May 2019

We warmly invite participants to a two-day conference at Lancaster University that focuses on the value of material methodologies in the Medical Humanities. The event aims to connect PGR and ECR researchers working in a wide range of disciplines, including, but not limited to, History, Sociology, English Literature and Language, Archaeology, Art, and Medicine.

‘Material culture’ encompasses medical items and objects not ordinarily associated with medical knowledge, including objects of non-medical care and everyday objects, which undergo transformations in clinical or caregiving settings.

Suggested topics for papers include, but are not limited to:

  • Agency
  • Consumer and self-help cultures
  • The doctor/patient relationship
  • Domestic medicine
  • Medical institutions
  • Medical technologies and equipment
  • Medicine formulation and manufacture
  • Medical packaging
  • Architecture
  • Art therapies

Keynote address given by: Dr Jennifer Wallis, Imperial College London.

This conference will include a training session on working with heritage groups and partners delivered by Christine Chadwick, a heritage consultant with extensive experience in working with medical heritage groups.

To apply, please send an abstract of 250 words for a 20-minute paper and a short biographical statement to pgmedhumsnorthwest@gmail.com by Wednesday 15 May 2019.

A limited number of postgraduate travel bursaries are available; please state if you wish to be considered when you submit your abstract.