The Polyphony catches up with Chase Ledin, in his last day in post as Editor in Chief.
Chase has been an Associate Editor since January 2021 and the Editor in Chief since July 2022. Thank you, Chase, for your hard work and vision for the site over the last few years.
–What have you enjoyed most about your time working at The Polyphony?
Working with and supporting the editorial team has been a real source of joy, watching each editor grow in meaningful ways, including confidence, for their academic ambitions. The staff is hugely energetic and ambitious, which has made the work both deeply rewarding and inspiring.
–What are your top three favourite posts? Why are they your favourites?
Massively Disabled (series): Alex Henry commissioned a fabulous 6-part series with Elaina Gauthier-Mamaril, who explores the role of podcasting in the medical humanities, critical disability studies, and Long Covid. The series draws out multiple perspectives across long-term and chronic illness in society. Elaina’s exploration of the histories and politics of caring across history, place and society provides exceptional insight into the power of critical theory and philosophy for making social change.
Manifesto for a Multilingual Medical Humanities: Jordan McCullough has been a key figure in amplifying the growing movement to interrogate, represent and foreground the role of multi-lingual and linguistic practices within the medical humanities. This manifesto, written by Steven Wilson, provides a very helpful exploration of the role of linguistic sensitivity in the making and doing of medical humanities research and practice. I think this is an important piece for all medhums scholars and practitioners, for Wilson’s deft illumination of boundary crossing of cultures, languages, and politics.
In the Zine House (series): Aly Fixter continues to amaze me with their exquisite commissioning of arts-based and creative practices within the medical humanities. This 6-part series uses zines to think through the location(s) and labour of creation, the sources of inspiration, and the forms of mediation that enable – and inhibit – creativity in making and doing arts-based research. This is an exceptional resource for creative practitioners across the arts, humanities, and social sciences!
—Do you have any advice for people who’d like to contribute to The Polyphony?
Be ambitious; make the leap! Share your ideas and be creative with them. The Polyphony is a space to engage but also re-imagine what the medical humanities can and should do.
–How do you think The Polyphony has changed during your time as Editor in Chief?
I prioritised giving dedicated space for editors to pursue their intellectual interests via projects and themes, which has helped to generate compelling content for the platform alongside our general commissions. The use of editor-driven projects has also helped us to align our commissioning practices with IMH’s larger visions for expanding and creating partnerships locally and globally, making The Polyphony both a space to play as well as grow alongside the institute. I think using projects has helped the platform to highlight key areas where the medical humanities need to go – including, for instance, exploration of neuroqueer and neurodiversity; multi-lingual medhums; intersections with the ecological humanities; and others. There are many places that the platform will go, and I hope that enabling editors to pursue their thematic interests will have helped both them and the platform to take surprising, dangerous, and compelling journeys going forward.
–Where do you hope to see The Polyphony head next?
I hope that The Polyphony will be a leader in pushing medical humanities publishing into multi-lingual directions, practices, and spaces, by enabling critical and creative translational explorations through our online platform. Core to The Polyphony’s vision is to unsettle the dominance of entrenched, hegemonic, and taken-for-granted hierarchies of power and influence within the modern academy. I think The Polyphony can and must cultivate a space to undertake these multi-linguistic, multi-national and interdisciplinary collaborations by re-imagining, inventing and playing with the capabilities and capacities of our online spaces.
–What impact do you think working for The Polyphony has had on you? Has it helped you develop your academic career?
My three years at The Polyphony has indelibly shaped my vision for medical humanities research and practice, by giving me the space and time to think about, with and through ECRs working at the cutting edge of new topics, problems, and practices across disciplines. I continue to feed this work into my teaching practice(s) at Edinburgh Medical School, encouraging young medics to develop public-focussed communication practices to more effectively disseminate their research and practice. I will no doubt continue to use The Polyphony as a teaching and research asset to help students understand what effective science and medical communication and education can look like for wider and non-specialist audiences.
–Where are you headed next?
Earlier this year, I started as a faculty member in the social science programme within Edinburgh Medical School. I anticipate using this next career stage to centre queer perspectives and practices within medical education, and to continue my work on queering public health, science communication, and healthcare policy in the UK and Europe.
Chase is now stepping down from the role of Editor in Chief and resuming the role of Associate Editor until January 2025, when he will continue in his full-time position as Lecturer in Social Science and Medicine at The University of Edinburgh. We wish him all the best for the future.
We are also happy to announce that associate editor Eva Surawy Stepney will be stepping up to the role of Editor in Chief from October 2024. Eva is a PhD candidate in the department of History at the University of Sheffield.
Many thanks again to Chase for his leadership and best of luck to Eva in the new role!
