Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine

Wind, Life and Health: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives

Friday and Saturday, 3 & 4 June 2005

At Osler- McGovern Centre, 13 Norham Gardens, Oxford

Twelve presentations of 30 minutes, followed by 30 minutes discussion

Organised by Elisabeth Hsu and Chris Low

With support from the British Academy, the Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology and the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, University of Oxford

Throughout the world, across different periods and cultures, the phenomenon of wind has profoundly influenced human behaviour and informed some of mankind's deepest explanations. Wind has been related to the divine and the gods, life and death, health and illness. Winds bring rain, change weather conditions and climate, affect the onset of different seasons, pollinate crops, stir up dust and pile up waves, bring and carry away odours and smells, sounds, voices and melodies, inspiration, dreams and ideas or demons and madness. Winds can be strong gales, violent rushes, whirlwinds, or gently soothing mild airs. They can be dry and hot or icy cold, roaring and frightening, or sweet and caressing. From hunting strategies to a criminal defence, from notions of life to harbingers of evil - winds shape our lives.

The conference sets out to examine the diversity and richness of human relationships with wind. It brings together an international group of anthropologists and historians who together explore wind and people in a revealing range of social and environmental contexts. From wind in the animic cosmos, our speakers move out to examine wind and people, past and present: from hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari, to Victorian Britons, to the Swiss of - from wind in Yoga and Chinese medicine to notions of pneuma amongst ancient Greeks - from Navajo, Malay and aboriginal relationships with wind to a Muslim, non-Muslim interface of wind and spirits in East Africa. By taking a broad perspective of wind the conference will tease out the patterns, continuities and disparities that underlie this key human-environmental relationship.

All welcome!

Conference fees: 5.- £/day. Pre-registration essential, please contact Chris Low, chris.low@christ-church.oxon.org, sandwich lunch available for additional £5.- For further information, contact Elisabeth Hsu, ISCA, 51-53 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6PE, elisabeth.hsu@anthro.ox.ac.uk, Tel 01865 274 681, or Chris Low, Tel. 0207 233 6496.

Programme

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