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CORDIS

Being ‘Mad’ in Byzantium. Toward a History of Mental Disorders in Early and Middle Greek Middle Ages

Projektbeschreibung

Psychische Erkrankungen im griechischen Mittelalter

Welche Auffassung hatte das mittelalterliche Griechenland von psychischen Erkrankungen? Gar eine übernatürliche? Das EU-finanzierte Projekt MadByz wird die byzantinischen medizinischen Ansichten zu psychischen Erkrankungen erforschen. Die Arbeit soll untersuchen, wie diese Auffassungen das Narrativ, die Wahrnehmung und die Erfahrungen mit psychischen Erkrankungen im griechischen Mittelalter beeinflussten. Auf der Grundlage der bisherigen Forschung zur Medizingeschichte und zum Thema „Wahnsinn“ im Altertum wird das Projekt umfassende Quellen systematisch erforschen. Diese Arbeit soll den Grundstein zu einem besseren Verständnis der Geschichte und der Verbreitung wesentlicher wissenschaftlicher Ideen im Mittelalter legen. MadByz wird unsere Ansichten und Annahmen im Hinblick auf zentrale Fragen der Stigmatisierung und Institutionalisierung hinterfragen und damit unsere Sichtweise auf die Vergangenheit und Gegenwart psychischer Erkrankungen verändern.

Ziel

This proposal explores Byzantine medical views on mental disorders and their impact on narratives, perceptions and experiences of mental illness in the Greek Middle Ages. The Byzantine world is most notably absent from cultural and historical surveys on madness and medicine in pre-modern societies. And yet Byzantium tells us a story worth hearing. Byzantine responses to cognitive and behavioral disorders capture the biological, psychological and social complexity of mental illness resonating with the epistemic pluralism advocated by global mental health studies. By investigating how medical concepts trickle down and affect folk concepts of madness, MadByz challenges the master narrative according to which the Greek Middle Ages understood mental illness only in supernatural terms. By contrast, this proposal argues that Byzantine naturalistic understandings of mental illness are part of a cluster of different discourses on insanity, testifying to the coexistence of varied views on mental disorders. MadByz builds on the experienced researcher’s previous research in the field of history of medicine and on “madness” in ancient times, expanding his expertise and providing new training opportunities in Byzantine Greek, Narratology and Disability Studies. By offering a systematic study of a wide array of sources, MadByz is an essential stepping-stone toward a better understanding of the history and the circulation of key scientific ideas in the Middle Ages. By engaging with the entanglements and conflicts between concepts of mental disorders, MadByz also looks at the place occupied by the mentally ill within their socio-familiar and broader institutional framework. In so doing, MadByz impacts on the way we look at the past and at the present of mental illness, questioning our views and assumptions on key issues of stigmatization and institutionalization, as well as of segregation and inclusion, which are at the heart of mental health policies promoted by the OECD and the EU

Koordinator

SYDDANSK UNIVERSITET
Netto-EU-Beitrag
€ 328 968,00
Adresse
CAMPUSVEJ 55
5230 Odense M
Dänemark

Auf der Karte ansehen

Region
Danmark Syddanmark Fyn
Aktivitätstyp
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Gesamtkosten
€ 328 968,00