Histoire de la santé en Grèce

Social history of health and healthcare in Greece

Call for participations

University of Crete, Department of History and Archaeology, Rethymno, Greece

March 29, 2014

The history of health and healthcare, a well-established branch of historical studies and medical humanities in many countries, has been recently expanding to include relevant developments in modern Greece. This one-day workshop will bring together researchers who are currently working on the social history of health and healthcare with a particular focus on 20th-century Greece, in order to achieve two sets of aims: on the one hand, to record the state of research, underlining its thematic, methodological and theoretical directions; on the other hand, to investigate the opportunities for research in Greece and other countries and the possibilities for future research collaborations.

Issues that could be addressed in relation to 20th-century Greece might include, but are not limited to

• Professional developments and hierarchies 
• Healthcare institutions 
• Social medicine and social psychiatry 
• Mental health and mental healthcare 
• Greek medicine and healthcare in a comparative and transnational approach: influences from and communication with other countries and relationships with international organisations 
• Relationships between professionals and patients 
• Non-medical definitions and interventions: folk medicine, psychological, educational, legal and welfare-associated practices 
• Meanings and experiences of health and illness 
• Ideological and political meanings and uses of health 

In addition, we invite presentations on the following more general issues, which may be discussed within different or broader spatial and time frames:
Historiography, methodology and theory of the history of medicine, health and health care
The future of the history of medicine and health
Research projects and funding potentials


Postgraduate students and early career researchers are strongly encouraged to submit papers on research in-progress.


Papers should not exceed 10 minutes and emphasis will be placed on discussion.


Please submit a paper abstract (300 words) and a short CV to Despo Kritsotaki by 30 November 2013. Notification of Acceptance will be by 31 December 2013 with submission of accepted papers by 28 February 2014. Working language of the conference: English

The conference is organised by Despo Kritsotaki, Efi Avdela and Jim Mills and is hosted by the University of Crete, Department of History and Archaeology. It is implemented within the framework of the Action ‘Supporting Postdoctoral Researchers’ of the Operational Program ‘Education and Lifelong Learning’ (Action’s Beneficiary: General Secretariat for Research and Technology), and is co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Greek State.

Financial support may be available, depending on need and the availability of funding.


Attendance is free, but you will need to register in advance. For further details on how to sign up, and for all other enquiries, please email Despo Kritsotaki.