Volume 14 (33)

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Browsing Volume 14 (33) by Subject "circulation of knowledge"

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    Changing objects of therapeutics – how neurasthenia affected scientific transfer between Germany and Sweden
    (RSU Medicīnas vēstures institūts. Paula Stradiņa Medicīnas vēstures muzejs., 2021) Gavallér, Yvonne
    This paper discusses the transfer of knowledge between Germany and Sweden within the therapeutics of neurasthenia around 1900. The latter was a worldwide spread disease phenomenon and involved such a variance of symptoms that it is retrospectively considered a cultural condition that was strongly linked to medical fashions. As causes of transfer and change in therapeutics, cultural move- ments have been little explored in research so far. Based on the analysis of transfers and an evaluation of medical objects, the following text aims to show the entanglement between Germany and Sweden on both a sci- entific and societal level as well as their impact on the therapy of neur- asthenia. In the popularity of the Swedish medical treatment method of medicomechanics in Germany, this connection becomes particularly obvi- ous. The enhancements and imitations of the objects used in mechanical gymnastics represent a scientific transfer on the level of medicine, which took place in parallel with cultural trends, political changes and technological knowledge. The constant change which the objects of neurasthenia therapy were subject to, was marked by the paradoxical use of a technology-affine medicine to treat a technology-induced disease. With the rediscovery of naturopathic methods within the new body culture, however, the Zander apparatuses underwent an evolution. The Swedish objects have been adopted by users from merely medical technology into new contexts of action – for example, as tools for self-optimisation of the body.
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    Missed connections: Pomeranian Medical University’s efforts to join circulation- of-knowledge networks in the pre-Thaw cold War times (1948–1956)
    (RSU Medicīnas vēstures institūts. Paula Stradiņa Medicīnas vēstures muzejs., 2021) Nieznanowska, Joanna
    The paper presented is a case study discussing the difficulties a newly established medical school had to face when trying to build itself into existing circulation-of-knowledge networks during the Stalinist period, on the example of Pomeranian Medical University of Szczecin (PUM), founded in 1948. Based on the perusal of documents from the years 1948– 1956 preserved in PUM’s Archives, the paper analyses whether and to what degree the school was able to meet a number of criteria essential for becom- ing a relevant node in the network of knowledge, especially in trans- and international contexts. The criteria discussed include: access to appropriate infrastructure and resources; personnel qualified, willing and able to generate and circulate knowledge; sufficient decisional autonomy; sup- port from power centers; and connectedness with the existing networks. Szczecin’s post-1945 status in Poland and Europe is highlighted as a major factor behind the Stalinist state government’s simultaneous reluctance to tackle PUM’s urgent infrastructural and personnel deficits, and willingness to use PUM as an instrument of political propaganda.