Recycling the Disabled: Army, Medicine, and Modernity in the First World War

 

HEATHER PERRY, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 7:00PM | UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, THE COMMONS (SPOONER HALL)

This talk will examine the ‘medical organization’ of Imperial Germany for total war. Faced with mounting casualties and a growing labor shortage, German military, industrial, and governmental officials turned to medical experts for assistance in the total mobilization of society. Through an investigation of developments in rehabilitation medicine, prosthetic technology, military medical organization and the cultural history of disability, Heather Perry will discuss how the pressures of warfare transformed not only medical ideas and treatments for injured soldiers, but also social and cultural expectations of the disabled body in Germany as well as in other belligerent nations.

Heather R. Perry, Ph.D. in Modern European History, Indiana University, examines the social, cultural, and medical history of Modern Germany, with a particular focus on the WWI era. She has published on the histories of WWI medicine, the history of technology, and disability studies. Her book, Recycling the Disabled: Army, Medicine, and Modernity in WWI Germany, was published by Manchester University Press (2014).

 EVERYDAY LIVES ON THE EASTERN FRONT: KU WWI LECTURE SERIES AY 2015/16

The experience of World War I, particularly on its Eastern Front, shaped the modern world in ways that many of us may not realize. The Eastern Front was where the empires of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and the Ottomans collided and ultimately collapsed, giving rise to new states in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. While the Western Front was defined by trench warfare, the Eastern Front was longer and often porous. It shifted back and forth across civilian populations with dramatically transformative effects, impacting lives at the everyday level. In the region, the Great War was inseparable from revolution, undermining imperial allegiances, generating social and national movements, and changing attitudes about gender and authority.

Over the course of the 2015-2016 academic year this series will bring four nationally recognized experts on WWI to Kansas to share original research on everyday life on the Eastern Front. In addition to public lectures, speakers will explore these themes in workshops with undergraduate and graduate students and members of the community.

ORGANIZERS: Nathan Wood, Associate Professor of History; Erik Scott, Assistant Professor of History; and David Stone, Professor, Strategy and Policy, U.S. Naval War College

SPONSORS: KU Common Book, Big XII Faculty Fellowship Program, Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies, Center for Global & International Studies, Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures, Department of History, Dole Institute of Politics, European Studies Program, Hall Center for the Humanities, Humanities Program, Max Kade Center, Office of Graduate Military Programs, University Honors Program, University Press of Kansas.

This program is part of the University of Kansas Centennial Commemoration of World War I, coordinated by the European Studies Program. Learn more about participating units and upcoming programs at: european.ku.edu/events and kuwwi.com.

Adrienne Landry Dunavin is a member of the Kansas WWI Centennial Commemoration Committee and is the primary administrator of KansasWW1.org. She worked at the KU Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies as their Outreach Coordinator from 2010-2016. During that time she served on the KU WWI Centennial Commemoration Working Group. She continues to volunteer as a representative for CREES and KU WWI on this blog.