Innovating Works

FEVER

Financiado
Fever. Global Histories of (a) Disease, 1750–1840
Fever is one of the most basic and pervasive of human experiences. Even before the current COVID-19 pandemic took this to new extremes, fever and the attendant sensations – of ‘burning up’, or having one’s temperature taken – had... Fever is one of the most basic and pervasive of human experiences. Even before the current COVID-19 pandemic took this to new extremes, fever and the attendant sensations – of ‘burning up’, or having one’s temperature taken – had long been familiar to men, women and, indeed, children. While fever is a universal feature of humans’ material existence, however, its relevance and meaning differed from one historical context to another. The proposed ERC project studies fever globally, particularly in societies within or tied to the Atlantic world, in the century spanning from the 1750s to the 1840s – a time when fever was not only considered the most common ailment that afflicted mankind, but also its most fatal one; ‘more persons died of fever than of all other ailments combined’, as contemporaries saw it. Given that fever was a threatening, ubiquitous presence for men and women around 1800, we know surprisingly little about it; as one medical historian recently put it, ‘fever has been the invisible elephant in the china shop of the medical past’. Premised upon archival research in countries across the world, the various subprojects expose and explain the unusual prevalence of fever in the period’s medical record; its persistent association with particular, ‘insalubrious’ environments rather than contagion; the unceasing relevance of vernacular, ‘folk’ and indigenous fever remedies in many Atlantic societies; and fever’s resonance and relation with similar disease concepts in other, non-European empires. The project also breaks new ground methodologically in its global, ‘new materialist’ and interdisciplinary approach – its dialogue with the medical sciences, history and philosophy of science, and environmental studies. It poses questions fundamental to our understanding of both the past and the present: about the rise and fall of diseases, the credibility of medical knowledge, and how cultural and historical contexts affect suffering and physiology, and vice versa. ver más
30/09/2028
2M€
Duración del proyecto: 59 meses Fecha Inicio: 2023-10-01
Fecha Fin: 2028-09-30

Línea de financiación: concedida

El organismo HORIZON EUROPE notifico la concesión del proyecto el día 2023-10-01
Línea de financiación objetivo El proyecto se financió a través de la siguiente ayuda:
Presupuesto El presupuesto total del proyecto asciende a 2M€
Líder del proyecto
RUPRECHTKARLSUNIVERSITAET HEIDELBERG No se ha especificado una descripción o un objeto social para esta compañía.
Perfil tecnológico TRL 4-5