Opening Up Space: A Lovely Technofeminist Opportunity

Victorian Home Remedies

Within our recipe selections, we chose two home remedies "To Make Black Medicine" and "Cure for a Cough" because of its inclusion in this community recipe book; we were a bit surprised to find multiple home remedies within this recipe book, so this was something that peaked our interests. We further explored the ways in which medicine was viewed and practiced in nineteenth century England, specifically looking at how alternative medicine was viewed and practiced during this time period. 

During the nineteenth century, the foundations of modern medicine were being established. However, in Victorian England, there were a lot of shifts in how medicine was practiced during this time as well. Medicine before the nineteenth century was charity-based (Brown)


However, in Victorian England, there were a lot of shifts in how medicine was practiced during this time as well coming into the nineteenth century. An emerging theme that was coming out of this period was the popularity of alternative medicine. A popular form of alternative medicine was hydrotherapy. 

"Indeed, by the mid-nineteenth century, hydropathy could be depicted as belonging to two interacting spheres, the hydro and the home, and as associated with commercial interests as well as with a mission of encouraging self-healing." (Marland and Adams). 


Along with hydropathy, there other forms of alternative medicine that we, from a modern-day perspective, may not fully understand or find a bit strange. The strangest, in our opinion, were the practices of (Davies and Matteoni)

 

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