Science, Society and the State, 1870-1935

3-4th September 2015, School of Humanities, University of

Nottingham
The years of 1870-1935 saw a number of seminal breakthroughs in the fields of science
and medicine. This was also a period in which links between science and the modern
state, and the place of science in society, became increasingly significant. Universities
expanded, and the new disciplines of clinical psychology, sociology and anthropology
began to emerge. Ideas of eugenics, race, sexology and psychological suggestions
proliferated and interacted with both popular and intellectual culture. European
medical and scientific practices were imposed in a colonial context, where they came
into contact with non-Western ideas of healing.
The aim of this interdisciplinary postgraduate conference is to address the histories of
science and medicine under the rubric of power, knowledge and control. We invite
papers that address the process by which certain subjects became the focus of medical
and scientific attention, and in particular how science became inscribed onto popular
consciousness. We also invite researchers working on the inter-relationship between
colonial and metropolitan state practices, and the use of medical knowledge on subject
populations. We hope to bring together postgraduates and early career researchers
working in any area of the history of science and medicine, with any geographical focus.
Confirmed keynote speakers: Dr Pratik Chakrabarti, University of Manchester and
Professor David Edgerton, Kings College London.
Possible themes, are not limited to, but may include:

Science and the formulation of state policies

State authority and the pathologised subject
Popular understandings of science and medicine
Science/medicine and national identity
The economics of science and medicine
The relationship between science and religion

We welcome proposals for both 20 minute papers, and for panels of three papers.
Please send proposals of 250 words, along with a brief CV, to Richard Bates
r.bates@nottingham.ac.uk and Siobhan Hearne siobhan.hearne@nottingham by 6th
July 2015.