Maria Josephson

Maria Josephson

Administrative Officer
Telephone: +46852486616
Visiting address: Annerovägen 12, 16970 Solna
Postal address: CB Karolinska Institutet Universitetsbiblioteket, CB MHK Forskning och föremål, 171 77 Stockholm

About me

Research

  • My research interests spans from the history of science to the history of care and diagnostic concepts in the twentieth century. In my dissertation;
    "The Problem that had no Name? Neurosis, Stress and Gender in Sweden 1950 to 1980" (Uppsala university, 2011), I explore how the dominant discourse on neurosis transformed into a discourse on stress in the post war decades.
    My last project investigated political and scientific aspects of the conflict surrounding THX, a controversial alternative cancer drug that became
    popular in Sweden from the 1960's and onwards. The project was financed by Östersjöstiftelsen at Södertörn University. In the project I took particular interest in the clashes between lay and professional actors and the ways boundaries were established and renegotiated throughout the conflict. Hundreds of thousands of patients turned to Elis Sandberg, the inventor of THX, and became his allies in the struggle against Swedish medical authorities and professionals. To understand their rejection of conventional medicine during a time that is often described as "the golden age of medicine" was one of the general aims of the project.