News at the Centre for the History of Medicine
'Last Taboo of Motherhood' audio plays are now available online
The 'Last Taboo of Motherhood’ audio plays are now available online
The artistic collaboration explores how women, their families, ‘experts’, and the wider community tell stories about motherhood and mental distress. The three audio-pieces produced from this exciting collaboration between historians and artists have been informed by a variety of historical sources, including first hand testimonies - oral histories and written narratives - from women who have experienced postnatal mental illness.
Written by Bryony Kimmings, Courtney Conrad and Sara Shaarawi, these pieces probe vital questions about women’s experiences of mental illness and the pervasive culture of silence that has existed around maternal mental health. It provokes reflections into how history might prompt new insights into our responses to postnatal mental illness today.
There are several ways to listen to the audios:
The audio plays discuss distressing subjects, including postnatal mental illness, infanticide and death and we recommend that they are suitable for ages 16+.
- You can access them directly on our websiteLink opens in a new window
- You can access them on Fuel Digital Link opens in a new window(You can listen free of charge, but need to register on the Fuel Digital website and purchase the audios for ‘0’ charge.)
- You can listen on SpotifyLink opens in a new window
- For more details of the audio tour and audience feedback click hereLink opens in a new window
Call for Papers: uppers and DOWNERS: A JOINT Workshop, University of Warwick, 5-6 September 2024
JOINT is an early career drugs history network, formed in 2022 through the generous support of a networking grant from the Wellcome Trust and Society for the Social History of Medicine (SSHM). Created to provide a forum for early career scholars (broadly defined) to network and share their research, JOINT is delighted to announce the first of two workshops exploring the demarcation of drugs into the binary categories of ‘uppers’ and ‘downers.’
In this first workshop, hosted by the University of Warwick, we invite papers (from any discipline) which problematise and/or complicate any aspect of this demarcation with respect to ‘downers.’ Whilst conventionally associated with substances such as opiates, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines, this umbrella term has also included alcohol, cannabis, and its synthetic derivatives, as well as novel substances such as GHB. We also encourage participants to think about the double-meaning of the word ‘downers’, inviting an exploration of ideas about bad trips, negative drug experiences, and/or drug come-downs. In short, we encourage participants to think broadly and creatively about the historically and contextually contingent nature of the categories which have come to separate various substances, and their experiential effects.
Thanks to the generous support of Wellcome, SSHM, and Warwick’s Centre for the History of Medicine, the convenors are able provide accommodation and a conference dinner for all presenting participants on the night of the 15 February 2024, with scope to provide additional accommodation/support with travel expenses for those without access to internal or external funding.
To submit a paper for consideration, please send a 250-word abstract, and short bio, to jamie.banks@warwick.ac.uk by close of Monday 15 January 2024. Please also include an indication of whether you require further support with travel costs/ additional accommodation.
Selection will be based on relevancy to the themes of the workshop, with preference given to those earlier in their career (e.g., PhD students, ECRs, those on fixed-term contacts). Those who are not selected for participation in this workshop are encouraged to consider apply for the second workshop, to be held later this year.
Last Taboo of Motherhood at Warwick Arts Centre's Resonate Festival
The Last Taboo of Motherhood project team, based in the Centre for the History of Medicine, are pleased to announce that their project with Fuel Theatre, also entitled The Last Taboo of Motherhood, will feature in Warwick Arts Centre’s Resonate Festival from 4-11 November 2023. There will be a panel discussion about the creation of the work in the Arts Centre on 8 November at 7.45pm.
The Last Taboo of Motherhood is a series of three individual audio plays illuminating an area of women’s health which has been historically overlooked: postnatal mental illness. The project draws on research by Dr Kelly Couzens, Dr Fabiola Creed and Professor Hilary Marland, and is informed by a variety of historical sources, including first hand testimonies from and by women in twentieth-century Britain. These pieces probe vital questions about women’s experiences and the pervasive culture of silence around maternal mental health.
The audios will be installed in Warwick Arts Centre foyer. Attendance is free.
Click here for more information on the Festival and updates on the panel discussion.
For details of further tour dates, please see here