Der Donnerstagsphilosoph

Welcome to my website!

My name is Markus Wahl and I am a historian specializing in Modern Central European History, Medical History and, more recently, Migration Studies with a focus on Brazil and Germany.
Since January 2022, I have been working as a Research Associate at the Institute for the History and Ethics of Medicine at the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany). In 2021, I was appointed as an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Kent (United Kingdom).

My current research projects are:

1. “Your Health, Our State”: Experiences of Patients with Alcohol Addiction and Diabetes in Socialist East Germany

   In the competition for international prestige and legitimacy, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) always emphasized the importance of its health system. In particular, the state character of medical care was described as superior to the West German private health system. Former Health Minister Ludwig Mecklinger even announced at a conference in 1981 that “in dealing with the health and social system, socialism had a name, face and address for the citizen.” On the basis of these claims, the research project aims to develop a social and patient history in the microcosms of the former GDR districts of Dresden and Rostock and to examine the effects of political and social ideals on reality and thus on the experiences of patients with alcohol dependency and diabetes inside and outside the medical institutions of the GDR. The research draws not only on correspondence, reports, ego-documents and exhibition material from private and public institutions and archives, but also on literature to examine the microcosm and the environment of the doctor-nurse-patient relationship in the GDR.

2. Medical Beliefs in Transfer: The Exchange of Concepts of Gender, Health, and Body through Migration between Brazil and Germany, 1850-1945

   This project investigates the transfer of concepts of gender, health and the body across the Atlantic via migration between Germany and Brazil from 1850 to 1945. It incorporates political, social, ecological and medical aspects to examine the different narratives and experiences of people in their new homeland in relation to climate, health and hygiene, nutrition, flora and fauna in the second half of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. The sources for this are currently files from the German Foreign Office, the Deutschen Auslandsinstituts in Stuttgart, as well as letters and diaries. For example, letters to the Foreign Office of Imperial Germany asking about a person’s suitability for emigration to Brazil were usually answered with reference to problems of climatic acclimatization, the hard work to be expected, and health risks. However, internal documents show that officials were instructed to encourage the emigration of only the rural population, who were accustomed to a hard life, and to prevent requests from “spoiled” city dwellers in order to avoid disappointment, failure and ultimately return. The “migration knowledge”, “class segregation” and recurring racism visible in these documents, and their influence on health care and behavior, are a crucial pillar of my research. With the “travel writing” and “tropicality” developed by Mary Louise Pratt as theoretical starting points, this project also takes existing concepts of Brazilians in their diversity, i.e. Afro-Brazilians, indigenous people, Luso-Brazilians and “settlers” from other countries, in their encounters with German migrants, in order to identify the transfer, appropriation and merging of health and adaptation strategies using postcolonial, sociocultural, and medical-historical methods. To this end, archives in Brazil will also be consulted in 2025. The project thus adds a transnational, interdisciplinary insight to the existing literature on migration studies, medical history, and imperial biopolitics.

In 2017, I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Kent (United Kingdom) under the supervision of Professor Ulf Schmidt and Dr. Stefan Goebel.

The title of my dissertation is ‘Treatments of the Past: Medical Memories and Experiences in Postwar East Germany’ and was published as a book by Routledge in 2019.

Therefore, my research interests include Modern German History, Social History of Medicine, Socialist History, Memory and Addiction Studies, and broader studies of sexual health in the past and worldwide.

I always enjoy a good coffee and a philosophical discussion.

Email: info[at]donnerstagsphilosoph.com