Medical Archive: Translating the Social History of Psychiatry, Archival Ethics, and Visual History in the Post-Soviet Classroom
Medical Archive: Translating the Social History of Psychiatry, Archival Ethics, and Visual History in the Post-Soviet Classroom
Submitter: Pavel Vasilyev, HSE University St. Petersburg, pvasilev@hse.ru
Abstract:
This session presents the results of a student project “Medical Archive” that has been carried out at HSE University since 2020. The project sought to familiarize the students with the social history of medicine, archival work, and visual studies by engaging with the relatively unexplored archive of a psychiatric hospital in Moscow. Medical Archive was organized as part of the project-based learning adopted by HSE University which strives to become the world’s first ‘project university’ by 2030. It was jointly proposed by a group of researchers from HSE University as well as Giliarovskii Preobrazhenskaia Psychiatric Hospital. The students were recruited at the so-called Project Fair platform (pf.hse.ru). In total, 10 BA and MA students representing different disciplines in the social sciences and humanities participated. Over the past two academic years, the students described, annotated, and digitized the archive of the psychiatric hospital, with a special emphasis on the collection of historical photographs. The project also resulted in a publication in an academic journal and plans for a new exhibition at the hospital’s museum. The session will highlight both the opportunities and challenges of translating the social history of psychiatry, archival ethics, and visual history in the post-Soviet educational setting.
Areas of STS Scholarship: Medicine and Healthcare
Authors/Participants: Pavel Vasilyev, HSE University St. Petersburg
Vladislav Yakovenko, HSE University
Mikhail Pogorelov, Museum of the History of Giliarovskii Preobrazhenskaia Psychiatric Hospital
