JANE BROOKS reports from Canada.
Borders, boundaries and political context in nursing and health care history
University of Toronto • 5-7 June 2008
The 2008 International Nursing History Conference, held at the Laurence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, was hosted by the Canadian Association for the History of Nursing, CAHN/ACHN, in association with the Allied Medical Services, Allemang Centre for the History of Nursing and others.
The two Hannah lectures were given by Catharine Choy, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California (Berkeley), and Katrin Schultheiss, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Illinois in Chicago. It was a great pleasure for all to listen to such eminent academics.
The closing session, Reflections on international nursing and health care history scholarship from an editor's point of view, was presented by Patricia D'Antonio from the University of Pennsylvania, Cheryl Warsh from Malaspina University College and Sioban Nelson from the University of Toronto. This was a truly invaluable session for all of us who endeavour to write for academic journals.
Global perspectives
The conference was a genuinely international event with delegates from Canada and the USA joined by representatives from Britain and several other European countries, as well as Australia, New Zealand and Israel.
This variety in nationality was matched by the diversity of subjects covered in the papers - wartime nursing, nursing practice, mental health nursing and midwifery, to name a few. There is no doubt that the discipline of the history of nursing is both growing and growing-up as new areas are constantly being examined and explored.
All of us who attended (and there were several of your colleagues from here in the UK) had a wonderful time, rekindled old friendships and made new friends from faraway. Our thanks to all, especially the organising committee.