ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

The History of Distrust in Medical Science

Session Submission Type: Organized Session

English Abstract

Distrust and skepticism towards modern medical science has a long history. Anti-vaccine, anti-mask, anti-surgery movements occurred at various times and in various contexts. As historians we can compare them for communalities and differences, trace their relationships with each other, and understand them in their specific historical context. We can describe what was at stake for the historical actors and how this reflected developments in mainstream medical science in interesting ways. This panel does that by bringing together and discussing examples of skepticism about medical science in the contexts of environmental health and anti-black racism, scientific racism and antisemitism, gender politics and the rejection of modern surgery, as well as scientific skepticism in the context of attempts at making medical practice more objective.

Sub Unit

• Organized Session

Chair

• Michale Bresalier, Swansea University

Individual Presentations

• Against “Human Vivisection” – Women’s Rights Activists and Criticism of Surgery in Britain and the US, 1880s-1914 - Thomas Schlich, McGill University

• Victorian Scientific Racism and the Long History of Science Hesitancy - Sharrona Pearl, Texas Christian University

• A Condition of “Depression and Doubt”: Racism and Lead Poisoning during the Civil Rights Era - Richard M Mizelle, University of Houston

• “The Trouble with Medicine:” Sceptical Science in 1970s Britain - Caitjan Gainty, King's College London

Session Organizer

• Thomas Schlich, McGill University