NEH Seminar: Disease in the Middle Ages

NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers: "Disease in the
Middle Ages," 5 July to 8 August 2009


Monica Green (Arizona State University) and Walton O. Schalick, III
(University of Wisconsin) have received funding from the National Endowment
for the Humanities to run a Summer Seminar for College and University
Teachers in London this coming summer, July 5 - August 8, 2009. Based at the
Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College,
London, and the Wellcome Library, the seminar "Disease in the Middle Ages"
will gather scholars from across the disciplines interested in questions of
health, disease and disability in medieval Europe. A primary goal will be to
explore how the new scientific technologies of identifying pathogens
(particularly leprosy and plague) can inform traditional, humanistic methods
(historical, literary, art historical, and linguistic) of understanding
cultural responses to disease and disability.

Guest speakers will include Michael R. McVaugh, PhD (University of
North Carolina-Chapel Hill), Emilie Savage Smith, PhD (Oxford University),
and Anne L. Grauer (Loyola University, Chicago). Meetings will be held at
the Wellcome Trust Centre in London, with trips to Bath, the Chelsea Physic
Garden, and the Human Bioarchaeology Centre, Museum of London. Special
emphasis will be placed on assisting participants with independent research
projects relating to the History of Medicine, especially, but not restricted
to, those based on unpublished primary sources.

Eligibility: We encourage applications from humanists, social
scientists, and basic scientists across the disciplines who are interested
in exploring issues of health, disease and disability in premodern
societies. Although the Seminar is focused on Europe and the Mediterranean
basin, scholars wishing to pursue cross-cultural comparisons are welcome. As
an NEH-sponsored event, the Seminar is open to U.S. citizens, permanent
residents, or foreign nationals who have been residing in the United States
or its territories for at least the three years immediately preceding the
application deadline. The Seminar is intended for college and university
faculty in U.S. institutions, though applications will be considered from
unaffiliated scholars and other academic professionals. The deadline for
applications is March 2, 2009. A stipend of $3800 is provided to all
participants.

For further information, contact the Arizona Center for Medieval and
Renaissance Studies (ACMRS), 4th Floor, Lattie F. Coor Hall, Arizona State
University, P.O. Box 874402, Tempe, AZ 85287-4402, Phone: (480) 965-4661,
Fax: (480) 965-1681, MedievalSeminar2009@asu.edu,
http://medievalseminar2009.asu.edu

For further information on the NEH Seminars and Institutes program
in general, go to http://www.neh.gov/projects/si-university.html