Medical Histories of Belgium : New Narratives on Health, Care and Citizenship in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

This edited volume offers the first comprehensive historical overview of the Belgian medical field in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Its chapters develop narratives that go beyond traditional representations of medicine in national overviews, which have focused mostly on state–profession interactions. Instead, the chapters bring more complex histories of health, care and citizenship. These new histories explore the relation between medicine and a variety of sociopolitical and cultural views and realities, treating themes such as gender, religion, disability, media, colonialism, education and social activism. The novelty of the book lies in its thorough attention to the (too often little studied) second half of the twentieth century and to the multiplicity of actors, places and media involved in the medical field. In assembling a variety of new scholarship, the book also makes a contribution to ‘decentring’ the European historiography of medicine by adding the perspective of a particular country – Belgium – to the literature. Front matter 1 Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Information 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 List of figures 8 Notes on contributors 11 Introduction 16 Part I: Beyond the nation state 42 Medicine, health and gender 44 Medicine and religion 80 Medicine and colonialism 114 Public health, hygiene and social activism 149 Part II: Institutions and beyond 184 Ways of knowing medicine 186 Medicine, money and mutual aid 221 The material culture of caring and curing 259 Part III: Beyond physicians 296 Dis/order and dis/ability 298 Medicine, media and the public 335 Epilogue – Including all citizens of Belgium: narratives beyond the profession and the state 373 Timeline of Belgian medical history 387 Index 390 Medical histories of Belgium reshapes Belgian history of medicine by bringing together a new generation of scholars. Going beyond a chronological narrative, the book offers new insights by questioning classic themes of the history of medicine: physicians, institutions and the nation state. While retracing specific Belgian characteristics, it also engages with broader European developments in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Medical histories of Belgium will appeal to Historians of Belgium in various subfields, especially cultural history and political history and medical historians and medical practitioners seeking the historical context of their activities.