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"Pain and Suffering in History" symposium at UCLA 13-14 March 1998 

SYMPOSIUM ANNOUNCEMENT


Pain and Suffering in History: Narratives of Science, Medicine, and Culture

Los Angeles, California, USA
13-14 March 1998


          Announcement and program may also be found at
         


The UCLA History of Pain Project will host an interdisciplinary symposium 
on the history of pain in medicine and society, to mark the official 
opening of the John C. Liebeskind History of Pain Collection.  This 
symposium will be the first occasion on which scholars from the 
humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences meet to explore this 
complex and fascinating topic. Special features will include a History 
of Pain Exhibit mounted by the UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical 
Library and a reception for all participants on Saturday evening. The 
Symposium is jointly sponsored by the Department of Psychology, 
the Center for Cultural Studies of Science, Technology, and Medicine, 
the Biomedical Library, the University of California
Humanities Research Institute, and the Fetzer Institute. 

Pain is a universal human experience, known to every time and every 
culture; but it has not always had the same character. Until the 
nineteenth century, pain-for Europeans and Americans-was a religious  
and philosophical problem, an essential part of human life with which 
individuals dealt by drawing on mental discipline and spiritual belief, 
as well as on physical fortitude. Physicians treated pain, but also 
used its "vital force" as a diagnositc and therapeutic aid. 
Physiologists began to explore the neuroanatomy of pain in the 1800s, 
but it was not until the years after World War II that pain became the 
focus of an organized scientific and medical field. Despite many 
recent advances in pain research and management, traditional social and
cultural ideas persist and continue to influence the individual experience 
of pain

There is no charge for symposium attendance or for the reception, but 
reservations are required to ensure sufficient seating. There is a $16 
charge for those wishing to have lunch at the UCLA Faculty Center on 
Friday. Attendees may also order a softcover book of the conference 
papers at a cost of $25 each.. 

Questions? Please contact:

     Katharine Donahue, M.L.S. 
     History and Special Collections Division 
     Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library 
     UCLA 
     (310) 825-6940 
     kdonahue@library.ucla.edu 

     Marcia Meldrum, Ph.D. 
     Department of History 
     UCLA 
     (310) 825-3888 
     meldrum@history.ucla.edu 

___________________________________________________
Russell A. Johnson        rjohnson@library.ucla.edu

Archivist              (310) 825-3191  or  206-2753
Neuroscience History Archives
Brain Research Institute, UCLA
Box 951761     Los Angeles CA  90095-1761

Special Collections Cataloger        (310) 825-6940
Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, UCLA

Box 951798     Los Angeles CA  90095-1798
<HISTNEUR-L@library.ucla.edu>