"Rhetorics of pain: A Transcultural history of bodily pain 1800-2000" to be held at Birkbeck College on 16 January 2010 (360G-Wellcome-091373_Z_10_Z)

This workshop will explore each of the components for the proposed application to the Wellcome Trust for a Programme Grant entitled "Rhetorics of Pain: A Transcultural History of Bodily Pain, from the Eighteenth Century to the Present". The preliminary application will be submitted to the Funding Committee in February 2010. Objectives: 1) to discuss how historians can most rigorously address the question of pain in transcultural and interdisciplinary contexts; 2) to interrogate theoretical and methodological approaches to pain, both in the past and present; 3) to assess the manuscript source-base; 4) to discuss the viability and effectiveness of our current proposals for disseminating our findings; 5) to explore further ways that the project will be able to engage with diverse communities, including those of patients, the medical profession, and the general public; 6) to liaise and forge links with clinicians, other health professionals, and experts in "outreach".