Upcoming Symposium: Legacies of Slavery, Racism, and Empire in the History of Medicine

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the international symposium “Legacies of Slavery, Racism, and Empire in the History of Medicine” to be held on November 12, 2021. The symposium is organized by the University of Chicago Center in Paris and the CAS laboratory at Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, France. 

The event will take place online via Zoom on November 12, 2021, from 4pm to 8pm (Paris time). Registrations are now open: https://uchicagogroup.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HB-LQYk9SoOIrgAmA3POcw 

You will be able to find the program of the event via the following weblink: https://humanities-web.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/college/centerinparis-prod/s3fs-public/2021-10/Legacies_prog.pdf 

The detailed abstract and the poster of the event can be found online at https://centerinparis.uchicago.edu/events/legacies-slavery-racism-and-empire-history-medicine 

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. We look forward to seeing you on November 12th!

With our warm regards,
Elodie Edwards-Grossi (Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès)
Christopher D. E. Willoughby (Harvard University and Huntington Library)

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Legacies of Slavery, Racism, and Empire in the History of Medicine
12 novembre 2021 - online

For most of the 20th century, historical studies on race and medicine were long considered marginal compared to more traditional work on slave societies or colonial history. However, they have recently experienced a revival, particularly since the 2000s, and a range of books and articles have been published in English and in French. Some shed light on the relationships between the development of slavery in the United States and the emergence of new medical practices and theories used largely by white doctors to treat black bodies on plantations, others focus on experiments conducted on the bodies of the enslaved by white doctors or the use of alternative medical practices and self-administered care by the enslaved and their descendants, during and after slavery, often qualified as illegitimate by the doctors whose science was firmly rooted in the Euro-centric tradition. Some recent works have also dealt with race, medicine and imperial history, both in British and French colonies. This international symposium in English will gather scholars from France and from the United States who are currently working on French imperial history, race and medicine or on the history of slavery in the US and the medical treatment of African-American patients in the 19th and 20th centuries. This one-day event will therefore propose a unique opportunity for French and American academic audiences and students to discuss new contributions in French history, American history and the history of medicine.

Panel 1 - Race, Medicine and Institutional Histories in the US - 4pm to 5:45pm
Respondent: Nathalie Dessens (Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès) 

Elodie Edwards-Grossi (Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès), “Mad with Freedom: the Political Economy of Blackness, Insanity and Civil Rights in the 19th Century” 

Christopher D. E. Willoughby (Harvard University and Huntington Library), “Masters of Health: Racial Science and Slavery in American Medical Schools” 

Ezelle Sanford III (Carnegie Mellon University), “Segregated Medicine: How Racial Politics Shaped American Healthcare”

Panel 2 - Medical Racism and Empire - 6pm to 7:45pm 
Respondent: Jim Downs (Gettysburg College)

Rana Hogarth (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign), “Measuring Miscegenation: Eugenics, Anti-Blackness, and the Legacies of Slavery”

Raphaël Gallien (Université de Paris), “Colonized Madness: an History of the Psychiatric Institution in Madagascar in the Colonial Context (1912-1955)”

Delphine Peiretti-Courtis (Université Aix-Marseille), “Black Bodies and White Doctors: Examining Racial Prejudice in the 19th and 20th Centuries in the French Colonial Empire”

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Bonjour,

Nous avons le plaisir de vous convier au colloque « Legacies of Slavery, Racism, and Empire in the History of Medicine » organisé par le centre de l’université de Chicago à Paris et par le laboratoire CAS de l’université Toulouse Jean Jaurès. 

L’évènement aura lieu sur Zoom le 12 novembre prochain, de 16h à 20h. Il est nécessaire de vous inscrire à l’évènement en amont via le lien d’inscription ci-après : https://uchicagogroup.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HB-LQYk9SoOIrgAmA3POcw 

Vous trouverez le programme ci-après. Le descriptif de l’évènement, l’affiche et le programme sont également disponibles sur la page de l’évènement : https://centerinparis.uchicago.edu/events/legacies-slavery-racism-and-empire-history-medicine 

Au plaisir de vous voir le 12 novembre prochain,

Elodie Edwards-Grossi (Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès)
Christopher D. E. Willoughby (Harvard University and Huntington Library)

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« Legacies of Slavery, Racism, and Empire in the History of Medicine »
12 novembre 2021 - évènement en ligne

Session 1 - Race, Medicine and Institutional Histories in the US - 16h à 17h45
Discutante : Nathalie Dessens (Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès) 

Elodie Edwards-Grossi (Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès), “Mad with Freedom: the Political Economy of Blackness, Insanity and Civil Rights in the 19th Century” 

Christopher D. E. Willoughby (Harvard University and Huntington Library), “Masters of Health: Racial Science and Slavery in American Medical Schools” 

Ezelle Sanford III (Carnegie Mellon University), “Segregated Medicine: How Racial Politics Shaped American Healthcare”

Session 2 - Medical Racism and Empire - 18h à 19h45

Discutant : Jim Downs (Gettysburg College)

Rana Hogarth (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign), “Measuring Miscegenation: Eugenics, Anti-Blackness, and the Legacies of Slavery”

Raphaël Gallien (Université de Paris), “Colonized Madness: an History of the Psychiatric Institution in Madagascar in the Colonial Context (1912-1955)”

Delphine Peiretti-Courtis (Université Aix-Marseille), “Black Bodies and White Doctors: Examining Racial Prejudice in the 19th and 20th Centuries in the French Colonial Empire”