In recent years, the territory of mental illness has been re-mapped. In the Sciences, mental life and behaviour are linked to the workings of the brain and the body’s neurochemistry. In the Arts, creative genius and madness are interwoven by the belief that mental illness can provide a unique world view. These discursive constructions often fail to place mental illness into larger social, cultural, and historical landscapes. By focusing on the representation of mental illness across disciplines, this conference intends to re-think the divide between scientific and aesthetic approaches. This event will bring together scholars from a wide range of disciplines such as art history, medical history, music, film, psychiatry, literature and intellectual history. The focus will be on Europe, but papers considering exchanges between Europe and other continents are also welcomed. We hope to initiate a dialogue that reconstructs some of the ideological fabric in which mental illness was embedded from 1850 to 1930.

We invite abstracts of 200 words to be forwarded by 7 March 2007 to both:
gemma.blackshaw@plymouth.ac.uk
sabine.wieber@plymouth.ac.uk