Understanding the Beliefs and Languages of the Pas
Understanding the Beliefs and Language of the Past
By Twyla Carolan
"Women and Cancer: Historical Perspectives
on the Concept of Risk" is the name of Dr. Patricia Jasen's research
project. You may be asking, "What is the concept of risk?" Consider
that a smoker is at greater risk of developing cancer. Then consider
that "factors that increase risk" (such as lifestyle factors) are words
well understood in our society, even though we still may confuse risk
and cause. (Smoking increases the risk of cancer, but cannot be said to
cause cancer, in the sense that not every smoker develops it.) This
language of risk is common today, but was the language the same in the
past?
Jasen, professor and chair of the
Department of History, received a Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council (SSHRC) grant of $51,000 in April, 2001, to study this
very question. Her research encompasses the period from 1750 to 1970,
and focuses on Great Britain, the United States and Canada -- countries
which all spoke the same language of risk.
Jasen became interested in medical history several years ago, when she
began to study such topics as childbirth and the history of alternative
medical practices. She was drawn to the subject of women and cancer
when she "began to notice that this was an area that was almost
completely missing in historical writing." She narrowed her topic to
the concept of risk when she realized, "I didn't just want to
understand the diagnosis or treatment of cancer through history. I
wanted to understand the experience of it. And part of the experience
which was shared even by people who never developed cancer was the
knowledge of being at risk, or the feeling of being at risk."
Jasen says that, historically, the language of risk was different from
that which we use today. People occasionally used the term "risk" (even
200 years ago), but more often they referred to "liability" -- which
women were more liable to develop cancer?
While
studying the language used in various historical periods, Jasen also
uncovers the belief systems underlying concepts of risk. Why were
physical injury, childbearing, racial differences, and the experience
of unhappy emotions all associated with a greater cancer risk? As Jasen
seeks to understand the beliefs and language of the past, she
emphasizes that her research does not permit her to reach medical
conclusions regarding the concept of risk. "It's not for an historian
to say whether there is an association between emotions and cancer or
not. I'm just looking at what people thought. But I'm also interested
in the effects of what people thought."
Her research grant permits her to travel to archives and medical
libraries to conduct research, and also enables her to employ research
assistants -- not only in history but in fields related to her project,
such as psychology.
This
summer, she will be working with history and women's studies graduate
student Mandy Hadenko, whose own research focuses on the history of
cervical cancer screening in Canada.
Patricia Jasen's research has the potential to be useful to a broad
range of people. The history of medicine is a subject included in the
training of many health professionals, and she hopes that her work will
help to provide a broader understanding of the subject of cancer risk
and its implications today -- including the fact that cultural
assumptions influence medical beliefs and help to guide the direction
of scientific research. "Overall, I think the thing that keeps
impressing me is the extent to which medical theories are rooted in the
culture in which they evolve."
Twyla Carolan is one of several students taking part in SPARK -- a student writing program sponsored by The Chronicle-Journal.