Happy Christmas to all our Polyphony editors, readers, and contributors! It’s been another fantastic year of stimulating and provoking publications.
Moving into 2025, there are changes in our Polyphony staff team. We are saying goodbye to Chase Ledin and Nicole Chen, both of whom are moving onto new and exciting pastures.
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Rong Huang- a visiting fellow from Peking University to Durham’s Institute for Medical Humanities- who has joined the team to lead the Polyphony Meets China project. Trained in Comparative and World Literature, Rong’s research interests are deeply rooted in narrative medicine and health humanities; her work aims to foster communication between scholars and practitioners from different disciplines. Rong is particularly interested in how literary studies can inform and transform medical practices and education.
Rong describes her vision for the Polyphony Meets China:
The PMC is dedicated to enriching the global perspective of medical humanities and promoting cross-cultural and critical exchanges. Over the past two years, the PMC has published articles providing insights into Chinese healthcare and societal wellbeing and translated the latest developments in critical medical humanities for Chinese readers.
In the coming year, the project will continue to advance the Polyphony’s mission of deepening the ‘Intercultural Dialogue Dispatch’ by fostering dialogues between Chinese medical humanities and the global medical humanities communities.
Specifically, the PMC intends to launch a ‘Contextualizing Chinese Medical Humanities’ column, which aims to bring Chinese medical humanities into localized discussions to invite more contextualized comments in reference to social-psychological-cultural dimensions. The PMC plans to invite more experts in the field to write articles, speak for underrepresented voices, and contribute to the ongoing discussion on medical humanities in a China-specific context but with an international development view in the background.
Expression of interest for creative writing on lived experience:
We are seeking creative practice researchers and creative writers to contribute to a new section of The Polyphony, focused on creative work about the lived experience of disability, illness and sickness. We hope to showcase short pieces of creative work under 1,500 words across forms, ranging from poetry, short fiction, works of autobiographical writing, visual art and anything in-between.
If you are interested in contributing your creative work, please get in contact with Grace Brimacombe-Rand or Aly Fixter at grace.brimacombe-rand@durham.ac.uk or alyson.fixter@durham.ac.uk with a finished piece of work you would like to submit or a creative work in progress seeking development.
We are hiring!
The Polyphony is seeking two Editors to join our team, including one Associate Editor (General Editor) and one Guest Editor (The Polyphony Meets India). The
For more information please visit: https://thepolyphony.org/2024/12/17/were-hiring-3/
Bluesky
We will be creating a Polyphony Bluesky account in 2025- so keep your eyes peeled!
See you in 2025!
