News at the Centre for the History of Medicine
Call for Papers: uppers and DOWNERS: A JOINT Workshop, University of Warwick, 7-8 November 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.
Women on the Edge: Motherhood and the Family in Turmoil in the Twentieth Century
Over the 7 – 8 September 2023, the Centre for the History of Medicine at the University of Warwick is hosting a workshop, entitled: “Women on the Edge: Motherhood & the Family in Turmoil in the Twentieth Century".
The two-day workshop is co-organized by Dr Kelly-Ann CouzensLink opens in a new window and Professor Hilary MarlandLink opens in a new window, and generously funded by the Wellcome Trust.
With contributions from scholars working in the fields of history, criminology and legal studies, this event aims to grapple with the interplay between motherhood, mental or emotional states and broader themes of criminality, neglect, abandonment and violence within the family in the long twentieth century.
This workshop is particularly interested in the role psychiatric, legal, “expert”, and popular thinking have had in understanding “deviant” female behaviour and its impact upon women themselves, their families and society at large.
Places are limited; if you are interested in attending, please register here.