A Historiographical Review of the History of Western Medicine, 2011-2020 The Diversification of Subject Matter and the Search for a New Methodology

Abstract

This article examines major issues in the historiography of Western medical history between 2011 and 2020 through an analysis of scholarly articles published in journals based in the United States, Britain, and South Korea. The subject matter and methodology of the history of medicine in the West have greatly transformed since the start of the second millennium, from biographical history to historicism to social history to intellectual and cultural history. Through this process, the definition of "medicine" has been continuously denaturalized and expanded, and so have the topics its scholars deal with. Having a variety of perspectives and keeping their disciplinary boundaries porous, historians of Western medical history have examined issues of health, disease, and medicine. They have also vigilantly pursued advancements in methodology for historical analysis, experimented with different writing styles, and expanded historical resources, including visual and audio records. In recent decades, the history of medicine has seen additional experimentation with the changing understanding of the relationship between medicine and society, especially with the emergence of a knowledge- and information-based society and globalization. Furthermore, historians have attempted to establish the value of the history of medicine in response to changing perceptions of medicine and history in the twenty-first century. Their efforts have vitalized the field of medical history by treating it as a useful lens for observing medicine's past as well as formulating critical questions about its present.