Natalie Caroline Koehle

“Fluid Matter(s): A Cross-cultural Examination of Body Fluids and Drugs that Act Upon Them” is an interdisciplinary conference concerned with fluids inside the body, and the material substances and practices that are used to act upon, move, handle, or contain them. Our goal is to develop a framework for cross-cultural comparisons of the conceptualizations and roles of “matter” in medicine and related practices of body care. The conference focuses on three subjects: (1) body fluids and how they move or are moved by physicians and/or drugs (2) drugs and healing substances themselves and how they are used to act upon body fluids (3) the role of fluids in the creative process of purposeful transformation that occurs during the preparation of drugs.