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Guest editors: Alexandra Bacalu & Dragoș Manea   The rising popularity and speedy proliferation of social media in the 2010s and 2020s has resulted in the revival of a large-scale cultural interest in self-care and self-help —now reconceptualized as digital practices of self-improvement and virtual means of performing individual authenticity, in the context of increasingly blurred boundaries between the public and the private. This concern with caring for the self and preserving mental health has only peaked during moments of political crisis and social unrest, with the 2016 and 2024 elections of Donald Trump, the 2020 global pandemic, and the recent conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East being repeatedly referenced in popular discussions around the—highly debatable—therapeutic need for occasional political disengagement. The birth of the sociological study of therapeutic culture(s) in the 1960s and 1970s coincided with the recognition of America as a particularly intriguing...

A conference taking place on 20 November 2026 at the Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, SW1Y 5AG, London 9.30am – 5.00pm   Deadline for submissions: Friday 26 June 2026     2026 sees the 100th birthday of Sir David Attenborough FRS, perhaps the greatest exponent of natural history through television. His work is part of a long tradition of communicating often-complex ideas to a wider public. Scientists have used a variety of media to make a case for science: most traditionally in printed works, but also through anecdotes, lectures, demonstrations, exhibitions, press articles, radio and television. Today, our scientists may create websites or take to social media to gain a wider audience for their work, or to explain the work of many others. But who have been the most successful communicators and why? What narrative techniques made them effective? In an era of good and bad influencers, distortion or rejection of science, fake news, and information overload, what can...

Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science will receive proposals for articles that seek to reflect Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Modern Science from the 16th through the 18th Centuries for the issue of June 2027. Full details regarding the scope, submission guidelines, and deadlines are available on the journal’s website. Call for Papers - Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on Modern Science from the 16th through the 18th Centuries | Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science We would greatly appreciate it if you could share this call with colleagues and potential contributors who may be interested in the topic.

Special issue coordinated by Pierre Petit, Alain Delattre, and Xavier Luffin Talismans are attested in the most diverse societies, spanning every epoque from prehistory to the present day, where they are being reinvented in the context of advanced capitalism and the digital world (Jackson 2022; McBain 2024). However, Japanese omamori are neither the hirizi of the Arab-Swahili world, nor the magical gems of Greco-Roman antiquity, nor the Saint Benedict ‘exorcist’ medals: the historical trajectories and cultural contexts of talismans are culturally specific. In the search for an Urreligion, many authors over the past two centuries have ignored these trajectories and contexts, adopting a generic approach to the topic (Lévy-Bruhl 1925, Marquès-Rivière 1938). By contrast, this special issue of Civilisations seeks to highlight approaches rooted in ethnographic and historical contexts, engaging reflexively in broader analytic considerations by comparing societies and periods. Talismans – or...

The Institute of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University will host the 18th annual Joint Atlantic Seminar for the History of Medicine (JAS-Med) on September 25th and 26th, 2026, in Baltimore, MD. Originally founded in 2002 with a mission of fostering a collegial intellectual community amongst graduate students and providing an engaging forum for graduate research, JAS-Med is proudly student-led and student-organized. We welcome interest and participation from graduate students pursuing research in the history of medicine and related fields, including anthropology, sociology, public health, bioethics, law, gender and sexuality studies, political science, as well as ethnicity, race, and migration studies.   We invite all interested graduate students — Master’s, PhD, and MD/PhD — to submit an abstract by June 1st, 2026 . Abstracts should be no more than 250 words and should clearly state the purpose, thesis, and principal findings of the paper to be presented. JAS-Med...

Editores: Carmel Ferragud i Alfons Zarzoso ISBN: 978-84-1396-107-1 https://doi.org/10.4995/9788413961071edUPV L’obra ofereix una visió de llarg recorregut sobre l’impacte de les epidèmies a les societats mediterrànies, especialment als territoris de l’antiga Corona d’Aragó, des del segle XV fins al XX, posant l’accent en el paper central dels municipis. Les epidèmies es presenten com a crisis globals que afecten tots els àmbits de la vida social i que revelen tant les fragilitats com les capacitats d’organització col·lectiva. El llibre defensa que, davant l’absència d’estats forts, l’administració local va esdevenir l’espai clau de resposta política, sanitària i social, amb mesures que van evolucionar però que mantingueren una continuïtat notable al llarg dels segles. A través d’estudis de cas locals, es mostra com medicina, religió, economia i poder municipal interactuaren en la gestió del contagi. El volum recorre les grans pestes medievals, la pesta de 1647-48 i les epidèmies contem...

Presentació de: "Artesanías Biológicas. Por qué la biología y la clínica necesitan a las personas intersex" (Sam Fernández, 2025) i  "Listening to the Cervix: a Handbook on Early-Stages Cervical Cancer, Embodied Knowledge and Power" (Còmic, Laia i Lyona, 2026) 10 de juny / 19 h / Casal Popular Sageta de Foc, (c/Sant Domènec, Baixos 1 i 2, Tarragona) Organitzen:  Casal Popular Sageta de Foc, Llibreria El Soterrani, Grupo SALHISOC-UCLM, MARC-URV i DAFITS-URV.  Més info:  sam.fernandez@uclm.es    Vivències i sabers és un espai de conversa entre perspectives que rarament dialoguen juntes. Des de les intersexualitats fins al càncer de cèrvix, pensem què ens revelen aquestes experiències i sabers sobre la ginecologia i la cura ... i imaginem altres ginecologies iformes de cura possibles i desitjables  

This panel title borrows from the article "Granola and Guns: The Rise of Conspirituality" hosted on McGill University's Office for Science and Society that attempts to define and locate in American society a perplexing mindset that blends countercultural mystical thinking and conservative paranoia. "Conspirituality," which PennState defines as "a belief system that blends new age spiritual beliefs and conspiracy theorizing," has also been branded the "crunchy-to-fascism" pipeline, demonstrating how an openness to crystal healing, chakra opening, sonic baths, and celestial alignment has led many—often well-to-do white women—towards "Pastel QAnon," anti-vaxx, and an embrace of alt-right beliefs. This panel seeks to explore wellness culture influencers, trends, and movements in order to better understand what forces, values, and beliefs give rise to competing definitions of "health" and "wellness" and to explore the...

In the early modern period (c. 1500-1700), Iberian religious refugees, scholars, merchants, and diplomats took up residence in Tuscany. In search of protection or fame, they weaved a network that linked Iberia, Tuscany, and wider imperial territories. New Christians, Moriscos, and other communities displaced by persecution—as well as intellectuals, philosophers, medical practitioners, envoys, diplomats, and other intermediaries—mediated the circulation of knowledge, materials, and political interests between courts, universities, and religious institutions. By taking a broad view of these encounters, this workshop aims to explore the multiple and layered presence of Iberian agents in early modern Tuscany between c. 1500 and 1700. Papers may also address the reception and assimilation of knowledge, materials, and ideas from the Portuguese and Spanish empires within Italian contexts. WE PARTICULARLY ENCOURAGE CONTRIBUTIONS WHICH ADDRESS TOPICS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO: Mobility, exi...

Se ha publicado recientemente el libro "Cerebros electrónicos. Historia de los orígenes de la informática en España", de José María López Sánchez y Alba Fernández Gallego (Editorial Comares, 2026). El volumen analiza la llegada y desarrollo de la informática en España con el objetivo de comprender el significado histórico y cultural de los distintos procesos que acompañaron la implantación del ordenador electrónico en nuestro país. Desde una perspectiva amplia, el estudio aborda este fenómeno atendiendo a sus dimensiones científicas, políticas, económicas y sociales, proponiendo una aproximación que va más allá de la historia técnica de la computación . El marco temporal se sitúa entre el final de la Guerra Civil y el último tercio del siglo XX, con especial atención a las décadas del franquismo, la transición a la democracia y los primeros años del nuevo sistema político. En este contexto, el libro examina la introducción de la informática en ámbitos como la administración d...