PhD Defence Lucie Germaine Claire Elisabeth Bastiaens

Keywords: History, public healthcare, Maastricht
 

"Lokale context als kompas: Publieke gezondheidszorg in Maastricht 1900-1940"

This thesis examines the development of preventive healthcare practices in the context of the city of Maastricht in the period from  

1900 to 1940. The focus was on three preventive care practices: mother and childcare, aftercare for former pupils of special primary education, and care for ʻproblem citizensʼ (citizens who were perceived as a problem because of socially deviant behaviour). Through literature and archival research insight has been gained into the way in which local political, socio-economic, cultural and medical-scientific circumstances have influenced this. Each time, certain habits and ways of thinking were combatted, and certain behaviour was promoted. However, it was not always self-evident that a public healthcare practice would develop. The local context and the interplay of local actors influenced which knowledge was dominant at a given moment, who was considered the experts (in one case doctors, in another case clergy) and what kind of care practice developed. Some care practices that emerged in Maastricht showed many and others few similarities to care practices found elsewhere in the country. 

Click here for the live stream.