Call for papers
Helmut-Schmidt University, University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg
7 and 8 November 2014
This
conference will explore the changing relationships between the early
modern military, medicine, society and the state in an international
comparative perspective. Military medicine became an integral part of
military planning as well as an attractive area of practice for early
modern surgeons and physicians. Since the 1990s, historians of medicine
have shown an increased interest in military medicine from the sixteenth
to the eighteenth century (e. g. Cook, Brockliss/Jones, Hudson, Storrs,
Ackroyd et al). However, much of the research remained focused on
British and French armies and navies. Health care in other early modern
forces has so far only attracted limited attention.
Historians
have pointed to the dynamic effects of a growing early modern military
bureaucracy. The emerging fiscal-military/naval state profoundly
affected the medical care of the sick and injured soldiers and seamen
(e. g. Charters, Neufeld). From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century
European armies saw the development of an ever more elaborate and
centralised system of health care. These systems consisted of temporary
field hospitals as well as permanent institutions of health care. They
became integral parts of military administration and created experts as
well as a specialised body of knowledge of military medicine. Military
medicine developed administrative technologies to systematically record
and assess the health of servicemen.
The effects of this early
modern military-medical complex were not limited to the military
population. Military medicine became a specialised area of study and
experts in the field were integrated in the health care system of the
emerging early modern state. The training of military surgeons and
physicians was standardised, and practitioners with a military
background used their experience to further their careers and obtain
public office during peace time. The specific requirements of military
medicine contributed to the development of new technologies of
systematic clinical note taking and the keeping of patient journals and
lists. The ability of military doctors, surgeons and administrators to
deal with large patient populations administratively, and develop
strategies for the prevention and the cure of diseases within a larger
group of patients, contributed to the development of a public health
system. This system was not only aimed at manipulating the health state
of individuals, but of whole populations. Thus military medicine
arguably played a key role in the development of public health policies
and the formation of what has been called ‘bio-power’ in the eighteenth
century.
We invite contributors to explore a wide range of topics related to early modern military medicine such as- the administration and treatment of patients in field hospitals, including experimentation
- the operational relevance of field medicine
- the institutionalisation of military medicine
- education, training and career paths in military medicine
- the relationship between military and civilian medicine
- the role of military medicine in the formation of medical knowledge
- and the experience of disease, injury and invalidity
The
publication of an edited volume based on the contributions to the
conference is planned. The conference will be held at the
Helmut-Schmidt-University, Hamburg (University of the German Federal
Armed Forces) on 7 and 8 November 2014. Limited funding for travel and
accommodation for speakers will be available. Bursaries for graduate
students, who are a member of the Society for the Social History of
Medicine, may be available. If you are interested in presenting at the
conference, please email an abstract for your paper (200-300 words),
together with short biographical information and contact details, to Dr
Sebastian Pranghofer (sebastian.pranghofer@hsu-hh.de)
or send it to the address below by 22 April 2014.
Confirmations will be
sent out by 15 May. The conference language is English. For more
information, please go to the conference webpage, https://web.hsu-hh.de/fak/geiso/fach/his-fnz/forschung/konferenz-7-8-november-2014.
Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit
Fakultät Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften
Dr Sebastian Pranghofer
Postfach 700822
22008 Hamburg
Germany
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