Sander Gilman
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Sander L. Gilman, born on February 21, 1944, is an American
cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.T ...
and
literary historian The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment, enlightenment (concept), enlightenment, or Education, instruction to the reader/listener/observer, as well as the devel ...
. He is known for his contributions to
Jewish studies Jewish studies (or Judaic studies; he, מדעי היהדות, madey ha-yahadut, sciences of Judaism) is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history (e ...
and the
history of medicine The history of medicine is both a study of medicine throughout history as well as a multidisciplinary field of study that seeks to explore and understand medical practices, both past and present, throughout human societies. More than just histo ...
. He is the author or editor of over ninety books. Gilman's focus is on medicine and the echoes of its rhetoric in social and political discourse. In particular, Gilman investigates the constellations of medical, social, and political discourse that emerge at certain historical junctures.


Academic career

Gilman obtained his
B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
degree in
German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a ...
and
literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...
from
Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...
in 1963, where he proceeded to gain his Ph.D. degree, also in German, in 1968. He was a professor at
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
(1976–1995), then moving to the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
for six years (1994–2000). He was then at the
University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois ...
for four years, founding its Program in Jewish Studies. In 2005 he was appointed a distinguished professor of the Liberal Arts and Sciences at
Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
, where he was the Director of the Program in Psychoanalysis as well as of Emory University's Health Sciences Humanities Initiative. He also served as professor of psychiatry and was a member of the Psychoanalytic Institute at Emory. During 2017-18 he was the Alliance Professor of History at the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
. In 2021, he was made professor emeritus at Emory. In 2007 he was appointed Professor, Institute in the Humanities,
Birkbeck, University of London , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £10 ...
and a visiting fellow of the new Institute of Advanced Studies,
Warwick University , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020â ...
, UK. He was president of the
Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...
in 1995. He has been awarded a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
in 1997, elected an honorary professor of the
Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
(2000), made an honorary member of the
American Psychoanalytic Association The American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA) is an association of psychoanalysts in the United States. APsaA serves as a scientific and professional organization with a focus on education, research, and membership development. APsaA comprises ...
in 2008 and made a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
(2016).


Writing

Gilman wrote the basic study of the visual stereotyping of the mentally ill, ''Seeing the Insane'', published by John Wiley and Sons in 1982 (reprinted: 1996 and 2013) as well as the standard study of '' Jewish Self-Hatred'', the title of his
Johns Hopkins University Press The Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publ ...
monograph of 1986, which is still in print. His ''Stand Up Straight! A History of Posture'' (Reaktion Press, London) and the edited volume ''Jews on the Move: Modern Cosmopolitanist Thought and Its Others'' were both published in 2018. ''I Know Who Caused COVID-19: Pandemics and Xenophobia'' (with Zhou Xun) appeared in 2021 (with Reaktion Press, London).


Freud

He has examined
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
, addressing the question of what role, if any, was played by Freud's Jewish origins in his composition of the psychoanalytic corpus. Gilman's thesis concerning this subject is that the prejudices of biology in the nineteenth century classified the Jew as being somehow
feminine Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered fe ...
, a stigma that Freud sought to escape by carving out a scientific niche of his own. Licensed by his own brand of science, Freud could simultaneously lay claim to the
manhood A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...
that the Viennese scientific establishment of the nineteenth century threatened to deny him, and also to the neutrality that was the warrant of its authority. To make the case that contemporaneous
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
shaped Freud's thought, Gilman provides a catalogue of the most egregious antisemitic stereotypes of the time and place, including straightforward documentation of certain anti-Semitic prejudices, such as the belief in Jewish male menstruation, as well as period depictions of anti-Semitic
stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for exampl ...
s in graphic media.


Editorial board membership

Gilman sits on the Honorary International Advisory Board of the Mens Sana Monographs.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilman, Sander 1944 births Living people 21st-century American historians Cornell University faculty University of Chicago faculty University of Illinois Chicago faculty Jewish American historians American male non-fiction writers Germanists Judaic studies Jewish American academics Scholars of antisemitism Tulane University alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 21st-century American Jews