CfP: Materia medica on the move II (Amsterdam, October 4-6, 2017)
Contextualizing drug components as collectables, commodities, and cultural markers in the early modern period
Amsterdam, October 4-6, 2017
After the successful
Materia medica on the move conference in
2015, Utrecht University Descartes Centre, Huygens/ING, and Naturalis
Biodiversity Centre will host a three-day follow-up conference, again
devoted to the circulation of knowledge
regarding non-native natural substances that were used in medicine in
the early modern period (1500-1800). The conference will take place in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 4 till 6 October 2017.
Goal of the conference
In
recent years the history of non-native natural substances, to which
therapeutic properties were attributed, has received substantial
attention from scholars in a range of disciplines. The various
contexts and perspectives from which these substances can be studied
(e.g. medicinal, scientific, socio-cultural, ethnobotanical, artistic)
have led to much cross-disciplinary research by historians of science,
pharmacists, ethnobotanists, and the like. The
conference intends to provide a platform for these researchers, to
provide an overview of current research, and to exchange insights and
ideas about the knowledge, trade, and acculturation of drug components
in the past.
Keynote speakers
Matthew Crawford (Kent State University)
Patrick Wallis (The London School of Economics and Political Science)
Pratik Chakrabarti (University of Manchester)
Valentina Pugliano (University of Cambridge)
Paper submissions
We
invite early and mid-career researchers to submit their work in
progress, to be discussed in thematic parallel sessions. Themes to be
addressed include, but are not limited to:
·
Hybridity in use: The ways in which
materia medica have transgressed the boundaries of medical applicability, and how these use categories were culturally defined.
·
Agency
of objects: How inherent natural characteristics of substances, and
cultural identities acquired in the global circulation process, have
shaped and transformed the meaning
of materia medica.
·
Collections and collectors: How collections
of materia medica, collected drawings of materia medica, herbaria and the like reflect the ideas and visions of the collectors.
·
Commodification: The processes that turned
materia medica into consumer products, making them recognizable
and knowledgeable for a large audience; and the people and places
associated with these processes.
·
Identity
formation: The ways in which medicinal natural substances, and
knowledge about them, has shaped social and cultural identities across
European and non-European cultures.
·
Knowledge
and power: The mechanisms that have been used to create and maintain
positions of power (often associated with “empire”) based on new
knowledge and goods in the domain
of materia medica.
Although
most of the historical evidence and modern research relates to plants,
we encourage presentations that focus on mineral and animal drug
components. We also encourage presentations that are
based on surprising new types of sources for this field of research.
Selected authors will be given the opportunity to publish their work in a special journal issue.
Organization and contact
Abstracts
(for 15 minute presentations) should contain the name of the speaker,
full contact address (including email address), the title and a summary
of the paper of no more than 400 words. Abstracts
should be sent to Peter van den Hooff (p.c.vandenhooff@uu.nl)
before June 19, 2017.
The
conference fee is €100,=. Please be aware that this fee does not
include accommodation. MA-students may apply for a reduced conference
fee of €60,=. You
can register here.