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pregnant woman

The Senses and Sensitivity

This study day originally scheduled for  14 March 2020 on 'The Senses and Sensitivity: Caring for Women in Pregnancy and Childbirth (1500–2020)' has been postponed due to the current Coronavirus episode. it is hoped to reschedule the event for the summer. Watch this space for further information!

 

 

 

asa foetida

La main ou l`outil: sens et techniques autour de la naissance

This three-day conference in Bordeaux 6-7-8 November 2019, hosted by the Société de l`Histoire de la Naissance en France, was devoted to the theme of the use of the five senses in birth and midwifery. We asked whether historical and current uses of the senses promote the use of the midwife`s hands, or of practitioners` instruments and technology? We also looked at whether there is a contrast between midwives` and surgeons` or doctors` approaches. My paper, on 8th October, opened the sessions on the history of the senses and birth.

traditional birthing scene in Germany c. 1513

Comadres, Dais, Sage-femmes

 

Workshop and International Meeting. Department of Romance Philology, University of Vienna

Comadres, Dais, Sage-femmes: Midwives in a Historical and Transcultural Perspective

Friday 18th October 2019 and Saturday 19th October 2019

Organisers: Wolfram Aichinger, Marie Fürnsinn, Marie Radinger; Research Group The Interpretation of Childbirth in Early Modern Spain (Department of Romance Philology, University of Vienna)

Speakers include:

a renaissance home birth

Exhibition on birth and childhood in Renaissance France

The Chateau of Blois, in the Loire Valley, is running a fabulous exhibition on the theme of birth and childhood in Renaissance France. If you are in the area between 18 May and 1 September 2019, do take the chance to view it! The lavishly illustrated catalogue accompanying the exhibition contains chapters written  specialist historians, including myself. My contribution is entitled `Avoiding death in childbirth` (`Conjurer la mort`), and surveys the roles of Renaissance midwives, surgeons and doctors.

breech delivery illustrated by Siegemund

Research talk on midwives` published works in France, Germany and England 1600-1750

I am giving a paper, in Leuven, entitled `Penning the midwife`s experience: professional skills, publication and female agency in early modern Europe`.

woman giving birth in 16th century, assisted by midwife and female companions

Historical persepctives on the team around the woman giving birth

 

Domiciliary midwife at birthing class

Study day on the history of education for practitioners and prospective parents

For details of the programme and guest speakers, click here.  For details of how to book, please click here to go to the Eventbrite page. 

diagram of womb, Duval 1612

Seminar on the translation of historical medical texts

Seminar paper presented by Valerie Worth-Stylianou, in the Princeton University Translation Series, convened by Professor David Bellos: `The porous boundaries between translation, interpretation and commentary - translating early modern medical texts`

Louis de Serres 1625 title page

Research seminar on the understanding and treatment of infertility in early modern France

Paper in the `Generation and Reproduction` research seminar series at the Department of History & Philosophy of Science, University of 
Cambridge:

Study day on care before, during and after birth in the twentieth century

The study day , held at TORCH in Oxford, in May 2016 focused on the twentieth-century birth experience, encompassing antenatal preparation for family life, Leboyer’s theories of gentle birth, and developments in postnatal care. It also included presentations on the RCM’s oral history collection and from the midwifery adviser to ‘Call the Midwife’.