Solveig Jülich, Uppsala University

2010-2015

PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT

The overall purpose of the project has been to investigate the interaction between the medical sphere and the media system in a period marked by the welfare state expansion. More specifically, the purpose has been to study the mass x-ray screenings for tuberculosis in Sweden in the light of media development. Previous historical research has mainly been interested in the ways in which medical screenings can be understood in terms of a biopolitical project by regulating the population's way of life. This project has instead focused on the "co-production" of medicine and the media. A series of empirical studies have been conducted, using textual sources as well as visual and audiovisual ones. Theoretically, the aim has been to discuss and problematize the conception of the mediatization of medicine as a phenomenon of late modern society. A broader goal that has become more prominent during the project has been to reflect on how research on controversial phenomena in the history of medicine are communicated, used and assigned relevance in current debates and media context.

THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS FROM THE PROJECT

1. The empirical research shows that the mass x-ray screenings represented a co-production of medicine and the media in several respects. Firstly, it included a number of exchanges on a technical level. The key innovation was the incorporation of 35 mm still cameras, first in use by press photographers in the 1930s, into the radiographic equipment that enabled the mass production and circulation of x-ray images in society. Secondly, the x-ray campaigns led to the establishment of various personal and organizational links between medicine and the media. For example, the medical board and the various county council committees launched a partnership with the local press, which contributed to the positive picture of the mass surveys that was reported in the newspapers. Thirdly, the survey's intertwining of medical and medial visualizations gave rise to the creation of both experts and audiences and patients. The occasionally complex examination of the miniature radiographs trained doctors to become specialized viewers who acquired their professional identity through the new visualization technique. These experts were consequently thought to see the pictures in a different way than the "public" and the (potential) patients who needed to be taught to be able to understand how the difference between healthy and diseased lungs were exposed by the x-rays.

2. Methodologically, the project has resulted in new approaches to examine public health campaigns. Earlier research in the history of medicine has largely focused on the role and actions of doctors and state governmental medical experts in such campaigns. This project has rather drawn on perspectives and tools from cultural historical media research to be able to also address issues regarding the audiences that the survey's propaganda was directed towards. New source materials have included reports in picture magazines, posters and films as well as answers to a list of questions ("frågelista") that was developed in collaboration with Nordiska museet. Particularly fruitful has been Michael Warner's concept of "imagined audiences" that has made it possible to show how the survey created a fictitious "public" but also that individuals could feel involved as part of a public in specific situations. The related concept of "audiencing" has also been productive for the development of the broader discussion on how the history of medicine and its audiences can be studied from both a historical and a contemporary perspective.

3. Theoretically, the project's integration of the history of medicine with media history has generated an innovative way of framing and understanding phenomena in the history of medicine. This has primarily been achieved through the bringing together and discussion of two perspectives known as media archaeology and mediatization theory. Media archaeological investigations on the one hand can play a part in challenging the tendency to treat medicine and media as more or less descriptive terms, and to study their shifting meanings over time and space. Mediatization theory on the other hand provides an opportunity to highlight more general historical trends. The challenge is to be able to grasp the long time perspective without sacrificing the complexity of the relationship between medicine and the media, or ending in a simplified understanding of historical change.

NEW RESEARCH ISSUES THAT HAVE BEEN GENERATED THROUGH THE PROJECT

The project has studied a public health project conducted in Sweden from the period around the Second World War to 1970. This period is important not least because issues such as the relationship between doctors and journalists, information and entertainment, openness and secrecy, was then begun to be raised and discussed with great intensity. It would be interesting to examine how these relationships and problems were handled in a longer historical perspective from the beginning of the twentieth century and onwards to illuminate both continuity and change. Another research issue that the project has generated is how Swedish public health projects have been related to the international context. For example, it seems as if the strategy of the medical board to exploit local actors and small-scale resources in media campaigns have had its counterpart in the UK, while the US rather relied on a centralized organisation to produce campaigns of a more spectacular nature. How can similarities and differences between the countries be explained historically? These new problem areas can accommodate even the theoretical and methodological issues concerning the relationship between medicine and the media, which would be interesting to develop in the light of insights gained in this project.

INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS OF THE PROJECT

The project has contributed to an international research field that studies the interaction between medicine and the media in a historical perspective. Concretely, this has meant that I have presented and discussed the project at international seminars and conferences. Important contacts with researchers in the history of medicine were established at "History of Medicine in Practice", an international conference supported by RJ that I helped to co-organize in Uppsala in 2014. Furthermore, the project's international connections have been ensured by submitting articles that present original research results to peer reviewed international publishers.

NEW RESEARCH COLLABORATIONS AND OTHER SPIN-OFFS GENERATED BY THE PROJECT

In collaboration with Nordiska museet I have made a list of questions ("frågelista") about "Mass X-Ray Screenings for Tuberculosis in Sweden 1940-1970" (Nm 241). The list generated around 50 responses, mostly from women, who were born between 1918 and 1971, and who reside in all parts of the country. Since 2011 I have initiated and co-lead together with Annika Berg (Stockholm University) the History of Medicine Network - a national network of researchers, graduate students and practitioners in the museum and cultural organisations interested in the research field. We have arranged seminars 1-2 times per semester and currently coordinate the network's mailing list and group page on Facebook. In addition, the project stimulated the development of "History and Culture of Medicine", a course on advanced and doctoral level that was held in 2012 at the Department for Literature and History of Ideas at Stockholm University.

RESEARCH COMMUNICATION MEASURES OUTSIDE THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY

I have demonstrated my commitment to research communication as member of the research advisory boards of the Royal Library (2009-2012), the Nordiska museet (2013-), the Tekniska museet (2014-) as well as Chair of the jury for the Lars Salvius Association (2012-2014). I have also contributed with several popular science articles and presentations (see list of publications).

THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS FROM THE PROJECT

The project's two most important publications consist of "In the Light of Media: Mass X-Ray Screening for Tuberculosis in Sweden, c. 1940-1970" and "Transdisciplinary Variants and Strategies: Media History Meets the History of Medicine". The first publication is an article currently under review for publication in a leading international journal. This essay is an innovative contribution to the extensive historical research on public health in the twentieth century by shedding new light on what ways medicine and the media interacted in mass screenings with x-ray technology in Sweden. The second publication is a chapter in a book anthology that summarizes theoretical insights gained through an examination of current trends in research on the cultural history of media and media theory, with particular focus on how new perspectives and approaches can contribute to historical studies of medicine and the media as a transdisciplinary sub-field.

THE PUBLICATION STRATEGY OF THE PROJECT

Initially the plan was to present the project results in the form of a monograph in Swedish. As the work evolved and important parts of the results were published in two book anthologies in Swedish, it appeared, however, more important to seek international publication of articles. International publication is a time consuming process and it is therefore difficult to say exactly when the publications will be issued but likely during 2016.

The scientific publications are freely available on the internet. Regarding the article that is currently under review for publication in an international journal it will be, given that the manuscript is accepted, parallel published in DiVA at Uppsala University.

Publications

PEER REVIEW-GRANSKADE ARTIKLAR, BOKKAPITEL, REDAKTÖRSKAP FÖR ANTOLOGIER

Jülich, Solveig, Lotten Gustafsson Reinius & Ylva Habel, red., Bussen är budskapet: Perspektiv på mobilitet, materialitet och modernitet, Stockholm: Kungliga biblioteket, 2013. Läs här: http://mediehistorisktarkiv.se/bocker/bussen-ar-budskapet-perspektiv-pa-mobilitet-materialitet-och-modernitet/

Jülich, Solveig, “Bussar och bildtrafik: Den ambulerande skärmbildsundersökningen i Sverige”, Bussen är budskapet: Perspektiv på mobilitet, materialitet och modernitet, red. Lotten Gustafsson Reinius, Ylva Habel & Solveig Jülich, Stockholm: Kungliga biblioteket, 2013. Läs här: http://mediehistorisktarkiv.se/bocker/bussen-ar-budskapet-perspektiv-pa-mobilitet-materialitet-och-modernitet/

Jülich, Solveig, Lotten Gustafsson Reinius & Ylva Habel, “Att tänka med bussar: Några hållplatser”, Bussen är budskapet: Perspektiv på mobilitet, materialitet och modernitet, red. Gustafsson Reinius, Habel & Jülich, Stockholm: Kungliga biblioteket, 2013. Läs här: http://mediehistorisktarkiv.se/bocker/bussen-ar-budskapet-perspektiv-pa-mobilitet-materialitet-och-modernitet/

Jülich, Solveig, “Transdisciplinära varianter och strategier: Mediehistoria möter medicinhistoria”, Återkopplingar, red. Marie Cronqvist, Patrik Lundell & Pelle Snickars, Lund: Mediehistoria, Lunds universitet, 2014. Läs här: http://mediehistorisktarkiv.se/bocker/aterkopplingar/

Jülich, Solveig, “In the Light of Media: Mass X-Ray Screenings for Tuberculosis in Sweden, c. 1940–1970”, currently under review for publication in an international journal.

Jülich, Solveig & Sven Widmalm, ed., History of Medicine and Its Audiences, edited volume that will be published by an international publisher in 2016.

Jülich, Solveig & Sven Widmalm, “History of Medicine and Its Audiences: An Introduction”, ed. Jülich & Widmalm, History of Medicine and Its Audiences, edited volume that will be published by an international publisher in 2016.

PEER REVIEW-GRANSKADE KONFERENSBIDRAG

Jülich, Solveig, “I mediernas ljus: Skärmbildsundersökningen i Sverige 1940–1970”, paper presenterat vid den internationella konferensen The History of Technology and Science Days 2013, Umeå University, Umeå den 20-22 mars 2013.

Jülich, Solveig, “Mediehistoria och medialiseringsteori: Ett historiskt möte”, keynote-föreläsning vid konferensen ”Kulturhistorisk medieforskning III: Nordiska perspektiv”, Lunds universitet, Lund den 23–24 april 2013.

Jülich, Solveig, “In the Light of Media: Mass X-Ray Screenings for Tuberculosis in Sweden 1940–1970”, paper presenterat vid 24th International Congress of History of Science, Technology and Medicine, The University of Manchester, Manchester 22–27 juli 2013.

Jülich, Solveig, “Den affischerade folkhälsan”, sessionsintroduktion, Svenska historikermötet, Stockholms universitet, Stockholm den 8–10 maj 2014.

Jülich, Solveig, “Att fånga befolkningens uppmärksamhet: Tuberkulosfrågan och kampanjer för skärmbildsundersökningen kring 1900-talets mitt”, paper på sessionen “Den affischerade folkhälsan”, Svenska historikermötet, Stockholms universitet, Stockholm den 8–10 maj 2014.

BOKRECENSIONER

Jülich, Solveig, recension av Inger Huldt, Daniel Normark & Bengt Norrving, Från läkarskola till medicinskt universitet: Karolinska institutets ledning 1953–2012, Stockholm: Karolinska institutet University Press, 2013, Lychnos: Årsbok för idé- och lärdomshistoria, 2013.

Jülich, Solveig, recension av Ludmilla Jordanova, The look of the past: Visual and material evidence in historical practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012, Lychnos: Årsbok för idé- och lärdomshistoria, 2014.

Jülich, Solveig, recension av Anna Maria Forssberg & Karin Sennefelt, red., Fråga föremålen: Handbok till historiska studier av materiell kultur, Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2014, Lychnos: Årsbok för idé- och lärdomshistoria, 2014.

POPULÄRVETENSKAPLIGA ARTIKLAR OCH PRESENTATIONER

Jülich, Solveig, “Fotografering av det osynliga”, föredrag på Index: The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Stockholm den 14 december 2011.

Jülich, Solveig, “Röntgenbilder i historiskt ljus”, föreläsning på kursen Visualisering av medicinska bilder inom Röntgensjuksköterskeprogrammet vid Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge den 16 januari 2012.

Jülich, Solveig, “Ikoner för liv och död: Från Vesalius och Röntgen till Lennart Nilsson”, föreläsning i serien Bilderna som förändrade vetenskapen, Folkuniversitetet i samarbete med UR, Stockholm den 16 maj 2013.

Jülich, Solveig, “Medicin och audiovisuella medier i historiskt ljus – ett växande forskningsfält”, artikel publicerad på Kungliga bibliotekets webbplats, 2013.

Jülich, Solveig, “Roentgen wounds”, Lina Selander. Echo. The montage, the fossil, the sarcophagus, the x-ray, the cloud, the sound, the feral animal, the shadow, the room, and ’Lenin’s Lamp Glows in the Peasant’s Hut’, red. Helena Holmberg, Stockholm: OEI editör i samarbete med Index, 2013.

Jülich, Solveig, Intervjuad om forskningsprojektet “I mediernas ljus: Skärmbildsundersökningen i Sverige 1940–1970”, på webbplatsen för Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, 2014.

Jülich, Solveig, “Medicinteknik: En medieringshistoria”, föreläsning vid personalmöte, Tekniska museet, Stockholm den 27 november 2014.