Thomas Erslev
Visiting Predoctoral Fellow (2018)
Doctoral Candidate, Aarhus University
Thomas Erslev holds degrees in the History of Science and Intellectual History from the University of Manchester and Aarhus University. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at Aarhus University with a project on the recent history of brain banking and bioethics in a Danish context.
At the MPIWG, Thomas will join the Sciences of the Archive Working Group in Department II with a view towards a better understanding of how human brain collections can be conceptualized as archives, and what it means to do so, both historiographically, theoretically, and for the implicated historical actors.
Thomas’ most recent research investigates how ideas about temporality subtly structure more acute concepts of “value” and “waste,” which in turn are mobilized by scientists, collectors, and managers to determine which kinds of brain collection will be fruitful and viable, and which are “a waste.”
Thomas teaches courses on medical ethics, history of medicine, historical methodology, and history of science at Aarhus University. He is an editor of Slagmark, a Danish journal for intellectual history and related fields, for which he will edit a special issue with the working title “Embryology and Reproduction.” In addition to his academic work, Thomas is actively engaged in popularizing humanities research, mainly through the Danish online medium Baggrund.com which publishes approachable articles written by top scholars.
Projekte
Collecting Brains: From the Lab to the Archive