Vulnerable Bodies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Vulnerability in Nineteenth-Century History, Literature, and Culture

Coinciding with the next workshop theme, our fellow DACH Victorianist Sarah Schäfer-Althaus is seeking proposals for a volume, co-edited with Miriam Läpple, on Vulnerable Bodies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Vulnerability in Nineteenth-Century History, Literature, and Culture. The deadline for chapter proposals of up to 500 words is 11 January 2026.
By analyzing narratives of illness, health, disability, and nursing, this edited volume seeks to illuminate the ways in which medical and nursing knowledge, power structures, and social hierarchies shaped experiences of vulnerability in British and German nineteenth-century literary and cultural contexts. Special attention will be given to how vulnerability was constructed, represented, and managed historically as well as to intersectional factors—such as class, gender, race, and disability—and their influence on healthcare access and patient autonomy. Furthermore, we are particularly interested in how literature, cultural memory, and historical narratives both reflected and challenged the dominant frameworks of nineteenth-century vulnerability. Through an intersectional and interdisciplinary lens, the aim is to underscore vulnerability as both a historical construct and a lived reality—one that profoundly influenced patient care, medical authority, and cultural representations of health, while also leaving traces in current debates on healthcare, disability rights, and medical ethics.
The editors invite contributions from scholars at all career stages – encouraging especially early-career scholars – working in fields including literature and cultural studies, (medical) history, medical humanities, nursing studies, sociology, art history, media studies, ageing and disability studies, cultural anthropology, and related disciplines. Papers may focus on any (inter-)disciplinary perspective and engage with any medium.
For further details on how to submit, see the full CfC below.