Rhythmic history: Towards a new research agenda for the history of health and medicine

Kristin D. Hussey*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)
26 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Rhythm characterizes life on Earth. Daily physiological rhythms of eating and fasting, sleeping and waking, moving and resting, are common to almost all life forms which evolved under the solar light–dark cycle. Despite their ubiquity, historians of health and medicine have yet to grapple with the lived experiences of these daily rhythms in the past. This paper presents a potential new research agenda in ‘rhythmic history’ that understands rhythmicity as something which lies between biology and culture. Thinking with rhythms offers exciting opportunities to unite previously disparate historical studies of daily rhythms like eating and sleeping and opens up a new way to view the enmeshed connections between body and environment. In this paper, I take inspiration from the scientific concept of the ‘zeitgeber’ (‘time giver’), coined by the German chronobiologist Jürgen Aschoff, to frame a review of current literature relating to rhythms and explore Henry Lefebvre's notion of ‘rhythmanalysis’ as a methodological tool for historians undertaking ‘rhythmic histories’.

Original languageEnglish
Article number100846
JournalEndeavour
Volume46
Issue number4
Number of pages10
ISSN0160-9327
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author

Keywords

  • Circadian rhythms
  • Historiography
  • Medicine
  • Methodology
  • Physiology
  • Rhythmic history

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