WHN Southern Branch Spring MeetingSaturday 17th March 2012 At Kingston University.
Kingston University’ Centre for the Historical Record (CHR) will host the Spring 2012 one-day conference organised by the Women’s History Network, Southern Branch. The topic is deliberately broad to encourage a wide range of papers and participants interested in the history of women’s health and welfare. In resonance with the CHR’s remit to promote public history, the conference seeks to identify themes from history which resonate with women’s experiences of health and welfare today, and can inform policy makers. Proposals for papers are invited that relate to women either as receivers or providers of health and welfare, in any time period. We are particularly interested in papers which discuss these twin themes in women’s history in the context of public history, which may include a discussion of available archival sources and records.
Conference themes might include those listed below, but we would be interested to receive papers on any theme which falls within the broad remit of the conference, as described above :
Women and HealthPhysical health – different understandings of ‘illness’ and the medicalisation of women’s bodies.
Mental health - changing ideas about treatment and perceptions of women’s relationship with their inner selves.
Sexuality and medical discourse.
Women and Welfare
The impact of welfare policy on women.
The impact of women on welfare policy.
Women as consumers of welfare.
Public History
How can women’s history direct or inform modern media debates in matters relating to women’s health and welfare ? How can women’s history help inform current policy on women’s health and welfare ? How well is women’s health represented in archives ; and discussions on accessibility to relevant records ?
Please send a proposal of 250 words and a short biographical note to Sue Hawkins (s.e.hawkins@kingston.ac.uk) or Nicola Phillips (n.phillips@kingston.ac.uk).
The deadline for the submission of proposals is 16 January, 2012.