Text only

Varieties of Cultural History:

Theory and Practice in the Cultural Histories of Medicine, Science, Literature, and the Arts

University of Aberdeen, 5-8 July 2007, King’s College, Aberdeen

In the last twenty-five years, diverse anthropological, literary, and other perspectives adopted into Cultural History have transformed the theory and practice of historical disciplines more generally. As Cultural History comes of age, this conference provided the opportunity to reflect upon the particular achievements of the ‘Cultural Turn’ at work in histories of medicine, science, literature and the arts; to foster creative dialogue amongst advocates of these varieties of cultural history; and thus to look to possible futures of research in Cultural History.

• To view some photographs taken at the conference click here
• Read Paul Dukes' after dinner speech 'Happy Birthday Cultural History'

This conference was conceived during a review of the Aberdeen Cultural History degree carried out in 2005-6. The Cultural History honours programme began in 1986, and the conference therefore celebrated its ‘coming of age’ in 2007. The ”Varieties” conference also continued a long series of Cultural History conferences held at Aberdeen. This year a new taught MLitt in Cultural History will also begin.

• To view some Cultural History programme memorabilia click here
• To view some previous conference memorabilia click here
• Press coverage of the Varieties of Cultural History conference:
  • Times Higher Educational Supplement, 6 July 2007
  • Press and Journal, 5 July

Keynote speakers included:

• Peter Burke (Cambridge): ‘Strengths and weaknesses of cultural history’
• Peter Mandler (Cambridge): ‘“National identity” between history and social science’
• Alice Jenkins (Glasgow): ‘Cultural history, space and ahistoricity: Franco Moretti and Euclid’
• Crosbie Smith (Kent): Trust in history: technology and culture in Victorian Britain’
• Michael Stolberg (Würzburg): ‘A cultural history of uroscopy in early modern Europe, 1500-1850’
• Evelyn Welch (Queen Mary, London): ‘Making culture material’

Among the topics covered in other sessions were: methodologies in the cultural history of science; literature and science; professional cultures of medicine; the history of the senses and emotions; the pedagogical canon in cultural history; teaching cultural history.

Cultural History Society

On Sunday 8 July, 12.00-1.00 pm a meeting to establish a Cultural History Society took place.

It was agreed that the Society should be international in scope and to this end the Provisional Committee of the International Society for Cultural History was established.

Programme

The programme, abstracts, and details of the participants may be downloaded here:

• Final Conference booklet, 22 June 2007 (Adobe PDF)

An addendum to the conference booklet may be downloaded here:

• Addendum to conference booklet, 5 July 2007 (Word)

This conference was supported by the following organizations:

• The British Academy
• College of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Aberdeen
• The Wellcome Trust
• The British Society for the History of Science (provision of student bursaries)
• The British Society for Literature and Science
• The journal Cultural Sociology
• School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, University of Aberdeen
• School of Medicine, University of Aberdeen
• Society for the Social History of Medicine (provision of student bursaries)

Scholarship/Prize fund

A scholarship/prize fund has been established to mark twenty-one years of Cultural History at Aberdeen. For details, and to donate, go to https://www.abdnalumni.org/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?&pid=336&srcid=199 or contact Peter McCaffery: p.mccaffery@abdn.ac.uk

All enquiries regarding the Varieties of Cultural History conference: d.f.smith@abdn.ac.uk