Speaker
Dr. Kenton Kroker (York University, Science and Technology Studies)
Title
Insomnia, Psychology, and Biomedicine
Abstract
Insomnia has been a minor curio of medical and psychological research since the term first gained its pathological currency in the 1870s. This situation belies its status, then, as now, as a public health problem of considerable proportions. Historians of psychology and biomedicine seem to have little to say about how this paradox arose, or what sustains it. This relative silence may have something to do with the central problems that (independently) occupy both fields; namely, the progressive objectification of mind or illness, and their critique.
Insomnia’s vague parameters, diverse causes, and variable cures make it nearly impossible to fit it within any sort of progressive scheme (psychological, biomedical, or otherwise). But this is precisely what makes it valuable as an historical conceit. Its history is one of an eminently practical object, perfectly suited to investigating the ways in which knowledge is what knowledge does. And what insomnia has done, I will argue, is to act as a ‘boundary object’, redefining the nature and role of experiment in a heterogeneous set of fields, but most particularly, in psychology and biomedicine.
Note
This is an alternative format presentation. The paper should be read prior to attending the colloquium. If you wish to attend, but have not yet received a copy of the paper, please contact the Colloquium Coordinator, Laura Ball, at lcball@yorku.ca.