Working with privacy-sensitive medical data in a public history project

About the presentation:

In 2024, the public history project ‘Asylum: Refugees and Mental Health’ set out to research the impact of flight and displacement on the mental health of refugees, by looking at the historical case of Belgian refugees in the United Kingdom during the First World War. The core historical source material upon which this research is based, are registers and patient files of Belgian refugees in psychiatric institutions throughout England and Wales, but also in France and Belgium, created during and shortly after the war.

Ever since the project has started, the access to and usage of these sources has proven to be quite contentious, much of which comes down to the fact that these are privacy-sensitive medical data dealing with a topic that even today remains shrouded in taboo and stigma. 

In this workshop, I will briefly present the project ‘Asylum’ and take a closer look at the sources we use and the questions they raise. Apart from my own perspective as a historian, I will also attempt to shine a light on the sometimes-conflicting interests of archive repositories on the one hand, and cultural institutions, partnering in a public history project, on the other hand.

About the speaker:

Jozefien De Bock obtained her MA in Contemporary History at the University of Ghent and her PhD in History and Civilization at the European University Institute in Florence. Since then, she has worked both in the cultural sector (museums, archives, heritage organisations) and in the academic world (Ghent University, Fulbright, Utrecht University). She has published articles in several top journals and authored a monograph on the integration of post-war guest workers in the Belgian city of Ghent. Her research has been focused on the social-economic and cultural history of refugees, migrants and minorities.

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