Joris Vandendriessche and Benoît Majerus (eds), Medical Histories of Belgium. New Narratives on Health, Care and Citizenship in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

This interesting book’s aim is to go beyond the relation between ‘the’ medical profession and ‘the’ state and to explore a variety of themes such as gender, religion, disability, media and colonialism and a variety of actors, doctors but also, for example, religious sisters and lay helpers, alternative healers, architects and patients in Belgium. The timeframe is broadly the beginning of the nineteenth century up to very recent developments. The editors emphasise their ambition to enrich the European historiography of medicine by adding a detailed exploration of the Belgian case. The editors rightly state that the broadening of actors and themes has led to some fragmentation. The three thematic parts ‘Beyond the Nation State’, ‘Institutions and Beyond’ and ‘Beyond Physicians’ ‘serve as idealistic exhortations to produce new histories’ (p.16). Even in original and well-researched chapters, authors point to the fact that Belgian medical historical research has lagged behind. The book...