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Emotions, Sound & Personhood in Early Modern England

09 October 2025, 1:00 pm–2:00 pm

Drawing of two human skeletons

Join us at Wellcome Collection for our Historical Health & The Body Reading Group for PhD, ECR & interested historical researchers.

Event Information

Open to

All

Availability

Yes

Organiser

Finn Manders & Katherine Wills

Location

Wellcome Collection (Viewing Room)
183 Euston Road
London
NW1 2BE

Article - Read in Advance

The article for our next session, suggested by Hannah Cotterill, will be Olivia Formby's 'Crying in the Womb: Emotions, Sound, and Personhood in Early Modern England' (2024). The article is open access, but please let us know if you have any difficulties accessing it.

Hannah has also kindly provided some questions to think about in advance:

  • Why has 'crying in the womb' been interpreted by some as a sign of monstrous births and by others as a godly event?
  • How do early modern theories on foetal emotions relate to ideas about human emotions and personhood in general?
  • In her conclusion, Formby questions, 'How were these sounds heard, and by whom, and for what political purposes?' Can we respond to this from reading her article or does it prompt further study?

This reading group is run by UCL PhD students Finn Manders (Wellcome collaborative doctoral student) & Katherine Wills.

Open to PhD students, ECRs and other interested historical researchers. For information on upcoming sessions, dates, and reading material, please join the mailing list http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/HEALTHBODYREADINGWELLCOME.