Call for Papers

Medical Knowledge and Medical Practice in the 20th Century A Conference Organised by the Nordic Network of Medical History (Norden-NordForsk)

Oslo, 4.11.-6.11.2009 Medicine in the 20th century has both been subject to and itself caused a multiplicity of changes in what it means to be human. Be it diagnostics or therapy, computer tomography or organ replacement, the century has seen the creation of a whole set of novel ways of understanding and intervening into health and disease, many of them related to technological inventions: Organ replacement has challenged our concept of the human body, antibiotics and antibiotics resistances have reshaped infectious diseases; the rise of the risk factor has – to say the least – challenged the traditional association of sickness and symptoms of disease.

Our workshop sets out to explore the interconnectedness of medical knowledge, medical practice and medical institutions. Our intention is to bring together those scholars who work on such issues in the Nordic countries and to provide a forum to present and discuss projects in various stages of completion. To enhance such discussions we have ensured the participation of three renowned scholars of the field who will contribute keynote addresses: Kristin Asdal (Oslo), Thomas Schlich (Montreal) and Steve Sturdy (Edinburgh).

We will explore the circulation of knowledge between medical science and medical practice, with a particular focus on an important aspect of medicine in the 20th century, medical technology. Subjects to be addressed are multiple; in fact they are only limited by the topical limitation to the creation and handling of objects of medical knowledge and by the chronological time frame of the 20th century. To name just a few examples, papers could focus on the question of the interrelationship of medical practice and medical sciences, which role circulation between different spheres such as hospital wards, practices, laboratories, and the public plays and finally the material culture of medicine (instruments, machines, diagnostic apparatuses, statistical methods and laboratory practices) could be analysed in its

importance. Another focus could be on the question how local knowledge is disseminated and how it acquires general status.

This conference of the Nordic Network of Medical History (Norden – NordForsk) will be hosted by the Section for Medical Anthropology and Medical History at the University of Oslo. The conference will be held at Voksenåsen Conference Centre (www.voksenaasen.no/en/) situated in splendid surroundings above Oslo. This conference hotel is, quoting their webpage “Norway’s national gift to Sweden” and therefore seems a fine pick for a meeting hosted by the Nordic Network of Medical History. For those attending all local costs like food and lodging will be covered, but they will be expected to organise and pay their own travelling to Oslo.

Contributions should not exceed 30 min in length. Please send a title and an abstract (max 300 words) of your contribution before 30.4.2009 to the local organisers: Christoph Gradmann ([email protected]) Anne Kveim Lie ([email protected])

University of Oslo Institute for General Practice and Community Medicine Section for Medical Anthropology and Medical History Frederik Holst Hus P.O. Box 1130 Blindern 0318 Oslo / Norway

Medical Knowledge and Medical Practice in the 20th Century Oslo, 4.11. – 6.11.2009

Conference Organized by the Nordic Network of Medical History (Nordforsk) Local Organizers: Christoph Gradmann Anne Kveim Lie Section for Medical Anthropology and Medical History University of Oslo In cooperaton with Kultrans

Wednesday 4th 14: 00

Welcome and presentation of participants

15:00

Opening lecture: Steve Sturdy: Points of View: Laboratory and Clinic in the History of Modern Medicine

1600-19.30: Constructing and controlling epidemics Morten Hammerborg: Fighting typhoid with the scalpel: Typhoid fever in Western Norway, 1920-1940 Per Axelsson: ‘Unhygienic circumstances’: The role of hygiene in polio research, Sweden 1910-1955 Helene Laurent: Changes in the vaccination policies in Finland during the World War II

20:00:

Dinner

Thursday 5th: 09:00

Key note lecture: Thomas Schlich: The machine as model for surgical knowledge, practice and Institutionalization

10.15-12.30: Medical technologies Olof Ljungström: Picture Control: The Carl Zeiss “Universal Micro-Spectrograph”, between cell-chemistry research instrument and cancer-diagnostic appliance Isabell Dussauge: Technomedical Visions: MRI and the re-mediation of medical gazes Daniel Normark: Blurring the boundaries between medical science, practice and industry: building a pilot plant for the treatment of Haemophilia in the 50th & 60th

12.30-14.00: Lunch 14.00-18.30: Norms and disciplinary development Kerstin Bornholdt: The making of sports medicine Svein Atle Skålevåg: Subjects as (medical) objects. Medical knowledge and criminal law debates in mid-war Norway Tone Duglitrø: Changing Practices, Changing Perspectives: Laboratory Animals in PostWar Norway

Åsa Andersson: Aspects on medical knowledge production and 20th century’s aging research

19.30:

Dinner

Friday 6th: 09.00:

Key note lecture Kristin Asdal: The state, the animal and the health of the population

10.00-12.30: Changing medical practices Lise Kvande: Fetal medicine in the mid-1980s: Materiality, local practice and the distribution of bodies. Olav Hamran: Different understandings of diseases and diagnoses in drug and medicine policy, and in the health and drug regulation system, in Norway in the 1990s Tobias Samuelsson: Talk - Managing Distrust in Pre-hospital Emergency Care

12.30:

Concluding remarks

13.00:

Lunch