Workshop 'Resuscitation, Reanimation, and the Modern World'
Resuscitation, Reanimation and the Modern World will be held at the Maison Française d’Oxford (2-10 Norham Road, OX2 6SE) on Friday 5th October (1pm-6pm) and Saturday 6th October (9.30am-4pm).
The conference seeks to explore the social, cultural, political, and medical aspects of reanimation and resuscitation from the early modern period to the present. From the emergence of societies ‘for the recovery of persons apparently drowned’ across Europe to the setting up of first-aid medical services, the subject of resuscitation has social and medical significance. Changing views about the obligation to save lives may also be indicative of a shift regarding the nature of death and the value of human life, involving both an increasingly secularized conception of the possibility of resurrection (famously explored in Mary Shelley’sFrankenstein, 1818), and the development of a society characterized by its understanding and management of risk.
'Resuscitation, Reanimation and the Modern World' will consider how these phenomena appeared as key concerns of the Enlightenment – initially as miraculous moments, then as displays of medical prowess and manifestations of civic responsibility. The aim of the meeting is to explore how these ideas and practices have developed through time in literary, popular, and medical narratives, as new technologies both ‘medicalised’ resuscitation and extended its practice beyond the medical arena. As a result, we aim to develop new insights, not only into the development and dissemination of medical knowledge but also into broader cultural issues such as citizenship and civic duty, the perception and management of risk, and changing notions of what it means to be human.
More information and the conference programme are available at:
The conference is free to attend, with all refreshments provided, but please register your attendance via eventbrite (above). The venue is wheelchair accessible.
'Resuscitation, Reanimation and the Modern World' is organized by Marie Thébaud-Sorger (CNRS/Maison Française d’Oxford) and Jennifer Wallis (Imperial College London). We are grateful for the support of the British Society for the History of Science (BSHS), the Diseases of Modern Life project and the Faculty of History at the University of Oxford, the Maison Française d’Oxford (MFO), the Society for the Social History of Medicine (SSHM), and the Royal Historical Society (RHS).
