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Research The Groningen Research Institute for the Study of Culture (ICOG) News

Differentials and transitions in historical health(care) since the 19th century: Mortality, Morbidity, and Medicine across the Atlantic

When:Mo 08-06-2026 10:00 - 14:45Where:Academy Building (Broerstraat 5), Room TBA

The historical roots of today's health outcomes remain poorly understood, yet tracing them is essen-tial to make sense of the world we inhabit. This workshop brings together scholars at the intersection of historical demography and the history of health to examine how mortality, morbidity, and medi-cine have evolved across Europe, Africa, and the Americas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By tracing these historical trajectories and differentials, the workshop aims to deepen our understand-ing of how the past continues to define health and healthcare in the present.

09:30 – 10:00

Doors open & Introduction by organisers

10:00 – 11:30

Session 1: Morbidity and mortality, and medicine in historical Europe

Syphilis morbidity and institutionalisation in the Amsterdam hospital 1856-1896 Mayra Murkens, University of Groningen

The young adult excess mortality: a historically universal trait?
Adrien Remund, Population Research Center

Medical attention at death in nineteenth century rural Scotland
Alice Reid, University of Cambridge

11:45 – 13:00

Lunch Break

13:15 – 14:45

Session 2: Health(care) and mortality across Africa and South America

New African Health Histories: (E)merging Lines
Hilde Bras, University of Groningen

Legacies of Colonial Maternal Health Services in Africa
Jutta Bolt*, University of Groningen, and Jeanne Cilliers, University of Lund

The Mortality Transition in Suriname: Analysing Cause-Specific Mortality, 1903–1949
Björn Quanjer, University of Nijmegen

For any questions, contact
Dinos Sevdalakis (k.sevdalakis rug.nl)

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