Groningen Centre for Health and Humanities

The Groningen Centre for Health & Humanities ( GCH2 ) unites researchers working on a diverse range of topics. These include the history of medicine and the body, historical demography, gender, health politics, art history, architecture, linguistics and literary studies.

Our interdisciplinary research is aimed at understanding the cultural, historical, social, and political mechanisms of health and wellbeing. Together with health professionals and policy makers, we then ask how we can apply this body of knowledge in every-day practice.

'Old as Methuselah? Supercentenarians, Narrative Wisdom and the Importance of History for Health'

Inaugural Lecture Rina Knoeff, director of the GCH2 and Aletta Jacobs Chair of Health and Humanities

People in the past were no fools. Historical accounts of centenarians show how knowledge and health experiences were embedded in historically grown cultural patterns. In her inaugural lecture, Knoeff shows that health is not exclusively biomedical, but above all a societal issue. This means that in public health care, we should move away from a focus on clinical perspectives and give more space to the humanities.