I used archival case files to reconstruct histories of psychotic veterans denied disability pensions in post-WWII Britain; I argue that the idea of stress-induced schizophrenia, popularized later by anti-psychiatry, emerged in tribunals as part of a liberal critique of technocracy. #histmed #histsci
I mostly spoke about the politics of scale in medical aid and international development, drawing on the work of Heidi Morefield, whose excellent book "Developing to Scale" I reviewed way back. Medical aid has become too tech focussed and needs to address political determinants of health.
Proud to have been part of a panel on decolonizing medical aid with Diana Nazzal, Anika König and Jesse Olszynko-Gryn. The event was a fundraiser to help Gazan medical students forced to study in Egypt pay their tuition fees, who in time will return and help rebuild its healthcare system #Gaza.
Pleasure to hear @davidolusoga.bsky.social and Santanu Das at opening of the new Triailleurs exhibition at the #HKW, really powerful takes on erased histories of colonial soldiers, legacies lost between eurocentric nationalism and post-colonial nation-building.
Academic events in Berlin (2/2):
Book launch of „Biomedical Visions“ at ICI Berlin, organized by @alfredfreeborn.bsky.social and many others, with my Bielefeld colleague Lara Keuck amongst others!
Looking for interesting reading on psychoanalysis and football (asking for a friend who's a Spurs fan). Just stumbled across Chris Oakley's Football Delirium (www.routledge.com/Football-Del...), but hungry for more. #psychoanalysis #football #spurs
Biomedical Visions spotted in the wild (The Wellcome) by @frankiedytor.bsky.social! No time for irl books? Too busy on BlueSky for excursions to Euston Road? Treat yourself to the totally free open access version here: www.hatjecantz.de/products/830... #histmed #histsci
We are solidly back to the days of "WE are the civilized, makers and beneficiaries of the rules, and THEY are the uncivilized, entitled to no protections"
That mindset never really went away, some of just pretended it did. No denying it anymore
Interested in multispecies health? Why not come work with my excellent colleague Hannah Brown at Durham?
durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
I will be in discussion with Elizabeth Hughes, Robert Meunier, Cornelius Borck, Lara Keuck, Cat Dawson and Marlene Bart. All welcome, don't forget to register for in-person attendance or live stream!
"Biomedical technologies increasingly mediate and shape our subjective experience of illness, but biomedical knowledge cannot satisfy our subjective desires for total control of our bodies and their environments"
Book Launch 12.03. Live stream available www.ici-berlin.org/events/biome...
Excited to host the Measurement Heretics Workshop: Being Meaning and Measuring Well on March 11-13, at the Institute for Medical Humanities, Durham University. The keynote will be hybrid so register for this free event!
@durhamimh.bsky.social
#histsci #histmed #hps #philsci #medhums #histtech #sts
Bielefelder Schneemann
Buoy is cold. Plötzensee, Berlin.
The image shows an X-ray of a skull against a black background. Inside the image of the skull is an image of an open hand, facing the viewer with slightly shaded palms. The word "You" outlines the skull and forms a border around the suggested eye sockets. To the left of the skull is written: "Edited by Elizabeth W. Hughes and Alfred Freeborn." In the centre of the lower part of the image is the name of the publisher, "HATJE CANTZ".
📗 New #OpenAccess volume edited by Elizabeth Hughes & Alfred Freeborn:
"Biomedical Visions" brings together epistemology, medicine, and art to understand what biomedicine looks like and how we might view it differently in the past and future.
🔗 bit.ly/4nHBZ
#HistSci #HistArt
Not sure that was the point - rather that we should pause before historicizing everything. But thanks Benoît for covering the panel!
@alfredfreeborn.bsky.social kicks off the discussion by reflecting on a conference he organized last year
www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/event/global...
#autoreflexivity #eahmh #who #schizophrenia
It was super interesting to hear from Nic Cottone, @alfredfreeborn.bsky.social and Lisa Schmidt-Herzog about their ideas of alienation, masking, and the need for an open epistemology to avoid essentialism in the neurodiversity movement!
Collage of photos of the presenting scholars behind the microphone stand. From the top left to the bottom right: Esther Chen, Thomas Turnbull, Razieh-Sadat Mousavi, Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, Jacob Schmidt-Madsen, Alfred Freeborn, Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, Cameron Brinitzer, and Dora Vargha. Source: Anna Ruhnow, MPIWG 2025.
Our Spring Publications Slam in pictures 🌷📚
Congrats on your new books and articles Thomas Turnbull, Razieh-Sadat Mousavi, Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, Jacob Schmidt-Madsen, Alfred Freeborn, Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann, Cameron Brinitzer and Dora Vargha!
Learn more 👉 bitly.cx/n7aF
#HistSci #EnvHist
I’m hiring a postdoctoral fellow for 3 years to work on the philosophy of physics at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP), LMU Munich (deadline: February 23, 2025). More information below. @lmu-mcmp.bsky.social @lmuphilosophy.bsky.social
"Max Planck History of Science—Career: We’re hiring!“ top right: MPIWG main building backyard. Picture by Setform 2017. bottom right: MPIWG library. Picture by Setform 2017.
Call for applications!
Dept. II ("Knowledge Systems and Collective Life") seeks to appoint a Postdoctoral Scholar proficient in #OralHistory and #DigitalHumanities to join the CORAL (Commoning Oral Histories of Knowledge) project 💬
🗓 Deadline: April 30, 2025
🔗 bit.ly/4eDRUq4
#HistSci #AcademicSky
Excited to post the CfP for our 2025 History of Childhood Colloquium on ‘Becoming Human? Childhood, Development & the Human Sciences’. We welcome papers from any discipline or prof background & career stage; keynotes from @lauratisdall.bsky.social Bonnie Evans & Sally Shuttleworth; deadline 07/03/25
How? Riah just joined the platform, turns out she's already famous. For any Berlin people, I would recommend her new show at the Gorki, it's a lot of really camp fun and, unlike the critics, I loved the didactic anti-racism.
It's been a while since I did a social media post, got that mildly excited feeling and skin tingles. Happy to share my first (single-authored) publication with the BlueSky world! It won a prize so definitely skim-read the abstract at least: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Berlin: a double portrait
First autumnal swim at Flughafensee on the weekend.
