Illness as punishment, and community wellness, in nonconformist communities: a cognitive enactivist analysis. (360G-Wellcome-202644_Z_16_Z)

The goal of my proposal is to create an enactive model of illness as a punishment for transgression in early modern societies. I will examine the role that health plays in communities in which certain people do not conform to the behavioural norms of that community. I will focus the autobiography of Thomas Ellwood, who, as a Quaker, refused to genuflect or remove his hat when required by behavioural norms. As a result, he was punished with violence and the theft of his hat, resulting in an illness which he reflects on in spiritual terms as both a result of his nonconformism within society and a challenge from God. This project will deploy an enactive cognitive approach to explain Ellwood's reflections. Related to the notion of biological centrism, an enactive approach examines an organism's relation to its environment or community. I would present the research findings in an article, to be completed in late 2016, and as a conference paper at the international Cognitive Futures in the Humanities conference at Helsinki in June 2016 (I have already been invited to be part of a panel at this event, and our panel proposal has been accepted).