The Perils and Possibilities of Retrospective Diagnosis
Anna Jamieson explores researchers’ urge to retrospectively diagnose historical and literary figures, outlining the dangers and possibilities of such diagnostic endeavours.
(Not) Looking at Historical Medical Images
How do researchers respond to the politics, ethics and emotions raised by archival medical images? Michaela Clark reviews the workshop ‘Emotions and Ethics: the Use and Abuse of Historical Images’, organised by AboutFace, 17 June 2020.
Body Parts
The question of how the ancients conceptualised the body has been taken up by many scholars, yet analysis is often focused primarily on the textual evidence. Anatomical votives can offer a more tangible link to medical history, argues Stephanie Holton.
‘The same day repeating itself’: COVID-19, Time, and Illness Perception
In this essay exploring parallels and distinctions between ‘COVID-19 time’ and ‘tuberculosis time’, Madeline Potter explores the resonances between the temporality of illness and that of lockdown, as well as reflecting on the impact of prolonged
Historical lessons: pox and Covid-19
What lessons on Covid-19 can be learnt from the past? asks Rina Knoeff, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts and the Aletta Jacobs School for Public Health, University of Groningen.
Finding A Medieval Friend
In these difficult times, many are struggling to engage with academic work. The global hardship of this pandemic— especially for vulnerable people such as the homeless, those with disabilities, those with unsafe home environments, and also because of institutional variance in how far employees are being cared for— seems to necessitate an explicitly personal approach to any writing that happens during this time.
‘The Rhetoric of Medicine: Lessons on Professionalism from Ancient Greece’: Book Review
Adam Hayden reviews Nigel Nicholson and Nathan Selden’s The Rhetoric of Medicine: Lessons on Professionalism from Ancient Greece (Oxford University Press, 2019). Co-authors Nigel Nicholson and Nathan Selden might strike you as an odd couple. Nicholson is a
‘Blood Matters’: Book Review
Alexandra Barmpouti reviews Bonnie Lander Johnson and Eleanor Decamp’s Blood Matters: Studies in European Literature and Thought, 1400-1700 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018). Blood is not merely a biological substance but has often acquired cultural, religious and
Sticking Her Nose In: Hester Pulter’s Fleshy Gift
Dr Emily Cock discusses nose transplantation and Interregnum politics I have recently published my first monograph, all about Rhinoplasty and the nose in early modern British medicine and culture. Exciting! But, according to
AboutFace: emotions, history and transplantation
Fay Bound Alberti on emotions, history, and transplantation, in a preview of her new project, AboutFace.