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Biomedicine in museums

Anatomical collections and the cultural imagery of the body

Rina Knoeff and Robert Zwijnenberg at the Department of Art History in Leiden are announcing two ph.d. studentships in their research project ‘Cultures of Collecting: The Leiden Anatomical Collections in Context’.

The project studies how “historical and cultural practices and concerns have shaped anatomical preparations and how exhibitions of the anatomical body have informed cultural imagery of the body”—with the ultimate aim to understand “the dynamics of anatomical collections as cultural and academic heritage and seeks to formulate positions on the relationships between the anatomical museum, popular culture and academic medicine” (read more about the project here).

One PhD student is supposed to look at how the early modern collections of Leiden University “were rooted in ideals of perfection in different fields of knowledge and expertise”, while the other is directed at “the historical and educational import of the Leiden University nineteenth-century pathological collections” (read more here).

More info from Rina Knoeff at R.Knoeff@let.leidenuniv.nl. Deadline is 1 May 2008.

Thomas Söderqvist

Author Thomas Söderqvist

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