Past Events
1 June 2011: Edward Wright Building, F61, 12.30 – 14.00: Lucy Perry, postgraduate student, University of Lancaster, gave a seminar entitled ' "Reverse the Signs of Ageing": Aestheticizing and Medicalising our Way out of Old Age and the Implications for the Semiology of Ageing in Contemporary Prose'. Click here for a handout of the books that were discussed.
Organised jointly with and supported financially by the Centre for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine.
19 May 2011: New King's 10, 17.15: Martyn Evans, Professor of Humanities in Medicine and co-Director of the Centre for Medical Humanities, School of Medicine and Health, University of Durham, gave a lecture on 'Medicine, Embodiment and Wonder'. Chair: Professor Neva Haites. Organised jointly with and supported financially by the Centre for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine
20 May 2011: MacRobert Building, MR252, 11 to 12.30: Martyn Evans gave a seminar on 'Future Directions for Medical Humanities'. Chair: Dr Catherine Jones
Professor Evans was founding joint editor of the journal Medical Humanities. He has published variously on the aesthetics of music, ethics and philosophy of medicine, and the role of humanities in medical education. His current interests include music and medicine, the nature and role of humanities in medicine, and philosophical problems in medicine. In 2005 he was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
In preparation for the seminar, participants were encouraged to read H. M. Evans and D. M. Greaves, 'Ten Years of Medical Humanities: A Decade in the Life of a Journal and a Discipline', Medical Humanities, 36: 2 (December 2010), 66-68, H. M. Evans, 'Affirming the Existential within Medicine: Medical Humanities, Governance, and Imaginative Understanding', Journal of Medical Humanities, 29 (2008), 55-59, and H. M. Evans, 'Medical Humanities: Stranger at the Gate, or Long-Lost Friend', Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 10 (2007), 363-372. Click here for this article.
5 October 2010, 4.15pm: Dr Erica Wald, London School of Economics: 'Forging a New Indian materia medica: Professional Societies and the Formalisation of European Medical Practice, 1822-1854'. Venue (at King's College) to be confirmed.
12 May 2010: Edward Wright Building F61, 5-7 pm: Affette McCaw-Binns, Professor of Reproductive Health and Epidemiology, University of the West Indies, James C Petrie Visiting Fellow, University of Aberdeen: 'From Slavery to Self-Determination – the Development of Maternal Health Care in Jamaica' . This presentation traces the relationship between the abolition of the slave trade and the development of maternal and child health services to improve the survival of plantation mothers and their offspring given the inability to import slave labour into the colonies in the Caribbean and the subsequent evolution of health services for the population in Jamaica. A seminar organised with the collaboration of the Department of History, Immpact, Centre for Sustainable International Development, Centre for Cultural History, Centre for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine, and Centre for Medical Humanities. Chair: Greg Smithers.
4 May 2010: Iain Hutchison, University of Stirling: ''Disability History from the bottom up: narratives of disabled people in the 19th and 20th centuries'. (Joint seminar with the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine and Centre for Cultural History). Chair: Dee Hoole
27 April 2010:Edward Wright Building, Kings College, Room F61, 4.00 pm: Allan Beveridge, Queen Margaret Hospital, Dunfermline: 'Should psychiatrists read literature?' For some papers by Allan click here and here and here. (Joint seminar with the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine and Centre for Cultural History). Chair: Catherine Jones
22 April 2010: Jordan Baseman's 'Nature's Great Experiment': A Screening and Discussion. Sponsored by the Wellcome Trust
A mixed audience of about 70 staff and students of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon's University, members of the Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society, NHS and local authority staff, and members of voluntary organisations and the general public, including some twins, attended this event. Scroll down for some feedback. The event was organised by David Smith of the Centre for Medical Humanities and Jennifer Melville of Aberdeen Art Gallery.
The screening was followed by a free-flowing discussion, in which Jordan Baseman responded to questions and comments - which continued until almost 10 pm over wine and nibbles. For further details see: http://www.naturesgreatexperiment.com/. It is anticipated that the videos will appear on the internet during July.
Some Feedback
"Thanks very much for the email and for the presentation last night. It was the first I had been to and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We discussed Jordan's work on the way home and it provoked some interesting discussion between us! I enjoyed it for 'arts sake' as well as the wider thinking dimension." (Ruth Taylor, Associate Head of School, School of Nursing and Midwifery, RGU)
"That was brilliant! Thank you for the opportunity to watch the films and discuss the effects! Jordan's work is a tribute to the artists who try to involve science, but still avoid making another documentary. Thanks again!" (JB Fyfe, Robert Gordon's College)
20 April 2010: John Wilkins, University of Exeter, 'Galen's advice to us on maintaining good health' (Joint seminar with the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine and Centre for Cultural History). Chair Jane Stevenson
23 Feb 2010: 'Whither Medical Humanities?'
A mini workshop, featuring contributions by Dr Jane MacNaughton, Co-Director of the Centre for Medical Humanities, Durham, Andrew Hull, Coordinator, Medical Humanities programme, University of Swansea, Andrew McKie, Robert Gordon's University, and others, followed, at 5.00 pm by networking and brainstorming over a buffet until 6.15 pm. Handouts, powerpoint presentations and report available below:
For Jane Macnaughton's powerpoint click here
For Andrew Hull's powerpoint click
For Andrew Hull's handout click here
For Andrew McKie's powerpoint click here
For David Smith's powerpoint click here
For David Smith's handout click here
For a brief report of the event click here
6 October 2009: Sylvia Grace Borda, University of Stirling, 'Recollecting -Learning how to Animate Cultural Histories for Exhibition' chair: Jenny Brown, Aberdeen Maritime Museum. For an abstract click here. This meeting was held jointly with the Centre for Cultural History for Cultural History For Syliva's website go to http://www.sylviagraceborda.com/.
