The Future(s) of Medical Humanities is a special series produced and hosted by Ends of Knowledge collaborators Mona Baie, Swati Joshi, and Annabelle Olsson.
What does the future of the medical humanities look like to YOU? And what are the obstacles you encounter in shaping that future? In a report commissioned by the Institute for Medical Humanities at Durham University, Sarah McLusky (2022) states that one of the main challenges medical humanities researchers are facing is ''to feel isolated lacking like-minded peers''. With this mini-series we want to open a networking and discussion space for anyone working or interested in the medical and health humanities, but particularly so PhD students and early career researchers from across the globe. We hope to lay grounds for a fruitful conversation about the present state of our field, and our hopes and visions for its (multiple) future(s). We encourage people from non-anglophone countries, and countries where medical humanities as an (institutionalised) field is barely existent or just emerging, to participate and express ideas and concerns.
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Developing Strategies
Chaired by Mona Baie and Anabelle Olsson.
In the third session, we take a final and practical look towards the future of the medical and health humanities, seeking to collect ideas that help us work towards said future in collaborative, empowering, and joyful ways. We hope to end the miniseries having built a diverse and growing network of people interested in all things #futuremedhum and ready to go on more intellectual adventures soon.
Group discussions might revolve around topics such as:
· How can we foster future medical humanities research, teaching and reach in (trans)national and global contexts? What topics (concerning research, teaching, activism…) do we want to focus on?
· How can we build lasting, sustainable and meaningful connections between anglophone and non-anglophone researchers?
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Suggested reading (for all three sessions):
Macnaughton, J. (2017). The past, present, and future of medical humanities. Postmedieval 8, 234–239. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41280-017-0050-6
Shapiro, J. (2012). Whither (Whether) Medical Humanities? The Future of Humanities and Arts in Medical Education. Journal for Learning through the Arts 8(1). https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3x2898ww
Crawford, P., Brown, B., Tischler, V. & Baker, C. (2010). Health humanities: the future of medical humanities? Mental Health Review 15(4). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236851204_Health_humanities_the_future_of_medical_humanities
McLusky, S. (2022). Overcoming barriers to progress in medical humanities research. Report commissioned by the IMH at Durham University, UK. https://www.durham.ac.uk/media/durham-university/research-/research-institutes/institute-for-medical-humanities/Overcoming-Barriers-to-Progress-in-Medical-Humanities-McLusky-2022.pdf
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You can access the event Zoom link and readings in this website’s password-protected Members section which will be regularly emailed out via our mailing list. Alternatively, please email James Rákóczi or Mona Baie at endsofknowledge@gmail.com for the Zoom link and let us know if you have any questions.
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Mona Baie is a PhD candidate in Comparative Literature at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Prior to joining the humanities, she completed a medical degree at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, where she is still involved in undergraduate teaching. She is also a UCL alumni. Her research interests include: German and English literature of the 20th and 21st centuries, medical space and ‘the clinic’ from historical, literary and cultural perspectives, medical didactics, & critical university studies.
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Image used for event banner Credit: Two people hugging, with list of ways of taking care for people with HIV/AIDS. Colour lithograph for the National AIDS Strategy, Health Canada. Wellcome Collection. In copyright. See: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/.