Published In
Südost-Forschungen. International Journal for the History, Culture and Regional Studies of Southeast Europe
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
2023
Subjects
Social justice, Women's rights, Public health, Nursing -- Social history -- Europe, Women -- History, Nursing -- Social aspects
Abstract
In the interwar period, as part of a wholesale reorganization of public healthcare, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia saw the emergence of a new healthcare protagonist: the visiting nurse. Grounded in archival materials, by means of an analysis that intertwines gender and class, this article argues that the visiting nurse became a crucial (and cheaper) link between the hospital and the home in the fight against social diseases and reducing child mortality. These social interactions were often mediated by international humanitarian organizations. In this context, the visiting nurse serves as another bridge—this time between national and international public health policies. Visiting nurses contributed not only to improving public health, but the profession also presented a new job opportunity for women. These nurses also embodied the tension between states’ modernizing drives, transnational development efforts, nationalist aspirations, and (neo-) traditional views on women, which sometimes diverged but often overlapped.
Rights
This is the author's accepted manuscript, also known as the post-print version of the work, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
The definitive version of record is available from the publisher:
https://doi.org/10.1515/sofo-2023-820103
DOI
10.1515/sofo-2023-820103
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43022
Citation Details
“National Emissaries for Preventive Healthcare: Visiting Nurses in Interwar Bulgaria and Yugoslavia,” [Post-print] Südost-Forschungen. International Journal for the History, Culture and Regional Studies of Southeast Europe 82 (2023): 1-26.