CfP: Joint Atlantic Seminar for the History of Medicine


Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University Institute for the History of Medicine is pleased to host the 15th Joint Atlantic Seminar for the History of Medicine, October 13-14, 2017 in Baltimore.
JASMed is convened annually for the presentation of research by young scholars working on the history of medicine and public health. The meeting was founded in 2002 to foster a collegial intellectual community that provides a forum for sharing and critiquing graduate research.
We welcome student presentations on any topic and time period and especially hope to receive submissions that speak to this year’s theme, “Truth, Power, and Objectivity in the History of Medicine.” As Bruno Latour cautioned in his 2004 essay “Why has critique run out of steam? From matters of fact to matters of concern,” by demonstrating the lack of scientific certainty and socially constructed nature of facts in their work, historians of science, medicine, and technology are at risk of potentiating the arguments of political extremists, such as climate change skeptics or HIV denialists. This theme directs our attention to the ways in which historians of medicine both establish truths and call them into question. Broadly conceived, the theme highlights questions of perspective and power, including the intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality, and disability. It also invites us to critically consider methodological issues in the field, such as which actors get voices in our narratives, how sources can be used to emphasize or obscure different viewpoints, how evidence and authority are mobilized and balanced, and how claims of objectivity in the medical and scientific discourses influence both our scholarship and the ways it is interpreted.
We encourage submissions from a wide range of scholarly disciplines and are eager to hear new voices in the history of medicine and allied fields. Abstracts should be no more than 300 words and clearly convey the argument, sources, and relationship to existing literature of the paper to be presented. Please submit an abstract no later than June 15, 2017 to jashistofmed.wordpress.com/submit.

Registration for the conference is free and will open in September 2017. If you have any questions, please be in touch via email at jashistofmed@gmail.com. We look forward to welcoming you to Baltimore this fall!