Call for Papers
12 June 2014 Florence, Italy
A Conference organized by John Henderson and G. Geltner
Sponsored by the Medici Archive Project & Villa I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Renaissance Studies
Against tenacious misconceptions, pre-modern cities in and beyond Italy
are finally beginning to shed their reputation as demographic black
holes. The revised view of earlier cities' relative salubriousness,
however, is mostly grounded in medical treatises and statutes, sometimes
at the expense of documents and instruments of practice. The goal of
this conference is to examine new kinds of evidence and demonstrate that
the feasibility and popularity of health interventions can be gauged on
the basis of additional sources and new methodologies. Criminal court
documents, for instance, reveal the extent to which devised plans were
ignored and pertinent regulations violated. City council protocols help
to establish the scale of resources (human, financial, administrative)
allocated to incentivize participation and to ensure a modicum of
cooperation. Material culture, from archaeological remains to maps to
figurative and symbolic art, as well as a wide range of descriptive and
narrative sources, such as diaries, chronicles, and fiction, can also
illuminate pre-modern approaches to perceived risks and possible
solutions. Finally the conference will encourage participants to think
beyond the traditional paradigm of exclusive concentration on the urban
environment and seek to bridge the gap between urban and rural
environments.
We invite scholars with pertinent interests in the history and culture of public health to submit a brief CV and a 250-word abstract of a projected paper, to last no longer than 25 minutes.
Deadline: All proposals to be sent to Dr Elena Brizio (ebrizio@medici.org) by 15 February 2014.
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