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Pain and its Meanings: Birkbeck Pain Project (Catch up of 2-day symposium on 7-8 December 2012)

posted on February 20, 2025

Research Summary: Pain and its Meanings Symposium

Category: Interdisciplinary humanities research symposium and scholarly project
Primary Focus: Exploration of how and why people attribute meaning to pain through multiple artistic and academic disciplines
Event Details: Two-day symposium held 7-8 December 2012, organized by Birkbeck Pain Project in collaboration with Wellcome Collection
Methodological Approaches: Poetry, film, music, talks, and discussion formats; eight peer-reviewed essays published in Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century
Featured Scholars: Gillian Bendelow, Joanna Bourke, Tom Shakespeare, Jo Shapcott, Marina Warner, and Joanna Zakrzewska
Funding: Supported by Wellcome Trust
Output Formats: Video recordings, podcast recordings of readings and talks, published booklet with poems and interviews, and open-access peer-reviewed journal articles

‘Pain and its Meanings’ – Catch up with the event

‘Pain and its Meanings’ was a two-day symposium held by the Birkbeck Pain Project in collaboration with Wellcome Collection on 7-8 December 2012.

Through poetry, film, music, talks and discussion we set out to explore how and why people give meaning to pain.

Watch a short film of the event here or on YouTube here

Listen to podcasts of readings and talks from Gillian Bendelow, Joanna Bourke, Tom Shakespeare, Jo Shapcott, Marina Warner and Joanna Zakrzewska here

Read the booklet including the poem ‘P’ by Jo Shapcott, an interview with artist Deborah Padfied and the libretto of Daniel Eisner Harle’s play to music here

Engage with new thinking through eight new essays on pain in 19. Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century – an open access, peer-reviewed journal, available here

The Birkbeck Pain Project funded by the Wellcome Trust

Filed Under: Conference Review

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