Abstract
Healing is a vague concept. Modern medicine lacks a clear definition or a consensus on healing which can encompass diverse phenomena such as physical functionality or the absence of pain. But healing was even more elusive in the early modern period. Categorial differentiations between curable and incurable diseases or between lifelong disabilities and short-term sicknesses were common. More so, concepts and practices of healing touched and connected fields that we today understand as separate, such as medicine (academic and empiric), magic and religion. In the end, it was God who could grant a cure or prevent it. So how can we grasp healing in a world where there is neither a unified approach to it nor a coherent understanding?
This project investigates early modern concepts and practices of healing by asking what healing was for people with disabilities in the early modern period. The project thus wants to reclaim healing from the perspective of disability history whilst avoiding the problematic assumption that disability needs healing. The analysis is focused on intersections of dis/ability, gender, social status, religion and medicine.
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