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Historical Health & The Body Reading Group

07 May 2026, 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 to read.

We will be discussing Seb Kroupa’s 2019 article 'Humanists and Travellers, Gorgons and Gorillas. Hanno the Navigator's Periplus and Early Modern Geography (1530-1630)’. 

Katherine kindly provided some questions to think about while reading the article:

  • How (and in what ways) is translation important for understanding the development of early modern European ideas about 'foreign’ bodies?
  • How successful is the author in their attempt to demonstrate the role of geographical texts in crafting European ideas about 'self' and ‘other'?
  • What counted as knowledge about different bodies in early modern geography? Why did this matter?

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

Dates for further sessions

  • 21st May- ​**Reading room @ Wellcome Collection
  • 4th June - Viewing room @ Wellcome Collection
  • 18th June - Viewing room @ Wellcome Collection
  • 2nd July - Viewing room @ Wellcome Collection

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