Rebecca Whiteley
LightNews LightNews
banner
rebeccawhiteley.bsky.social
Rebecca Whiteley
@rebeccawhiteley.bsky.social
1.3K followers 380 following 14 posts
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Birmingham. Prints and books, materiality, sex and medicine! Author of Birth Figures (she/her)
Posts Replies Media Videos
rebeccawhiteley.bsky.social
And the prize for creepiest image of the day goes to our good friend Frederick Hollick (courtesy of Wellcome)
A man points at an anatomical model, resting his other hand on its head.
November 4, 2025 at 10:36 AM
rebeccawhiteley.bsky.social
Booking is now live for our exciting online workshop Object Stories in Health and Medicine 1700-1900!
See the full programme and grab a ticket here: www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/objec...
Object stories in health and medicine, 1700-1900 - University of Birmingham
This event is aimed at researchers across the medical humanities and histories of medicine and psychiatry working with material culture.
www.birmingham.ac.uk
October 31, 2025 at 4:08 PM
rebeccawhiteley.bsky.social
Does anyone know of any work on the Victorian use of the word 'interesting' to describe women as a category - 'the most interesting part of humanity'? I keep finding it and its making my toes curl 😰
October 9, 2025 at 12:24 PM
rebeccawhiteley.bsky.social
CfP for an online workshop on Object Stories in Health and Medicine, 1700-1900
@annafranjam.bsky.social and I can't wait to hear about your objects!
September 5, 2025 at 9:41 AM
rebeccawhiteley.bsky.social
How. HOW. Are there still academic ebooks with no page numbers?! How.
August 28, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Rebecca Whiteley
victorianhand.bsky.social
🙌Call for Papers🙌
We are excited to invite abstracts for an interdisciplinary conference on The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity, at @unioftheartslondon.bsky.social on 8-9 Jan 2026

Send abstracts of 300 words to victorianhand@fashion.arts.ac.uk by 22 Sep - please circulate among your networks!
Call for Papers. The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity. An Interdisciplinary Conference. 8-9 January, 2026 London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London. Proposal Deadline: 22 September 2025 What do hands reveal about us? We invite abstracts for papers of 15-20 minutes, for presentation at our 2-day interdisciplinary conference, part of The Victorian Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, and Identity, Past and Present, supported by UKRI. We welcome presentations from multi- and interdisciplinary research fields, including Critical Studies, Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and STEM. We encourage proposals from artists, makers and performers. Image includes an illustration of magnetism, a Victorian man sitting under 3 hands, 2 of whom have lines of magnetic power emanating onto his head and shoulders Please send abstracts up to 300 words, and biographies up to 100 words to victorianhand@fashion.arts.ac.uk by 22 September 2025 Read the full call at thevictorianhand.uk/call-for-papers-the-hand Image features the 3 logos of Lancaster University, UAL and UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council
August 15, 2025 at 2:41 PM
rebeccawhiteley.bsky.social
I wonder if anyone tech-minded can help! I have two mac computers about 10 years old, both work fine and yet I've just discovered are now 'unsupported' by Apple and I can't update their OSs. Soon I won't be able to use key programs. Is there anything to be done?!
August 18, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Reposted by Rebecca Whiteley
bars.bsky.social
Now on the BARS Blog: CfP: 'Sex in the Long Nineteenth Century' - Romance, Revolution and Reform Journal 2026 Conference

See all the details here: www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6071

Please share widely!!
July 25, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Reposted by Rebecca Whiteley
richardtbellis.bsky.social
New article out today! 'The Structures and Textures of Disease Made Printable' focuses on how the illustrations for Matthew Baillie's morbid anatomy were made through collaborations with the artist William Clift and a team of engravers associated with the Royal Society. doi.org/10.1086/736874
University of Chicago Press Journals: Cookie absent
doi.org
August 13, 2025 at 1:11 PM
rebeccawhiteley.bsky.social
Want to know more about obstetrical models, paper dolls, or play in medical education? Check out my new article in Material Culture Review about these little guys!
journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MC...
September 23, 2024 at 8:36 AM
Reposted by Rebecca Whiteley
slobogin.bsky.social
Reminder that I am soliciting papers for my CAA 2025 panel "Anonymity in Art and Visual Culture."

📅 Deadline: August 29
slobogin.bsky.social Christine Slobogin @slobogin.bsky.social · Jul 23
You can find the full description of the panel attached here, and at this link:

caa.confex.com/caa/2025/web...

Please reach out if you have any questions!
Looking at visual methods of providing anonymity, this panel seeks to explore the ethical and aesthetic vicissitudes and values of anonymity in art and visual culture. When an image's subject is deemed sensitive, those represented are often allocated anonymity, usually by covering the face or eyes. Visual anonymity can be seen as an easy fix for ethical questions relating to visual personal data – but what is the actual ethical, aesthetic, and interpersonal outcome of anonymizing a subject? Several key themes related to visual anonymity are of particular interest. The face is treated as the seat of recognizability, but other body parts or traits can give away identity. Photography is the medium that is most frequently deemed to require anonymization, but other artistic and cultural media appraised as less “indexical” may slip under the radar of ethical concern. And artistic and gendered considerations have historically been taken into account while anonymizing, even ... more at link!
August 13, 2024 at 1:50 PM
rebeccawhiteley.bsky.social
My little bookish heart is bleeding! I just opened a new book from an academic press far enough for it to lie open, and about forty pages have burst from their 'glue' binding 😭
March 7, 2024 at 4:41 PM
rebeccawhiteley.bsky.social
A fantastic summary of a term I have been wanting to know more about for a while.
thepolyphony.org/2024/01/26/m...
MedHums 101: What is Crip Time?
‘Crip time’ is a conception of living with illness that many patients bring to their healthcare interactions, says Élaina Gauthier-Mamaril.
thepolyphony.org
January 26, 2024 at 3:01 PM
rebeccawhiteley.bsky.social
What are visual culture people using to keep track of their images? I love Zotero for references and I tried Tropy but it couldn't talk across my two devices so I had to give that up... I'm drowning in medical book illustrations!
January 25, 2024 at 9:36 AM
rebeccawhiteley.bsky.social
Does anyone know anything written about Gustave-Joseph Witkowski? Because I'm looking at his publication history and he seems too bonkers to be unstudied?? 👀
December 15, 2023 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Rebecca Whiteley
drbeldavis.bsky.social
My (Mis)Conceptions project is collecting magical thinking during the trying to conceive experience. Do you have a story to share? Why not contribute it to future ttc communities? docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Trying To Conceive
All answers are completely anonymous but your answers will be used to inform the creative outputs and research for the project (Mis)Conceptions Read more about the project here: https://www.nhm.ac.uk...
docs.google.com
October 24, 2023 at 7:36 AM