What the Grandmother Knew That the Law Did Not
Maria Teresa Marangoni considers how a universal biomedical paradigm collides with local cultural knowledge and historical memory in debates surrounding Veneto’s vaccine mandates.
About the project
Multilingual MedHums seeks to showcase the development of medical humanities research beyond the anglosphere. It reflects on the contributions of non-anglophone countries to the growth of the wider field and questions the dominant understanding of English as the lingua franca of the medical humanities. The project is led by associate editor Jordan McCullough.
Vision and ethos
Multilingual MedHums contributes to The Polpyhony’s ongoing aim of challenging the anglocentric nature of much medical humanities scholarship by showcasing the work of scholars based in and working on non-anglophone countries. The project seeks to expand dominant understandings of the field by introducing readers, who may not be familiar with them, to the cultures of medical humanities research developing beyond the anglosphere.
In an effort to more richly entangle discussions of multilingualism in the medical humanities, we are particularly keen to receive contributions that offer insights from the Global South. We are also keen to develop genuinely multilingual editorial practices, which give rightful attention to the languages on which and through which our contributors work.
Syndemic Thinking in The Clinical Witness
Caroline Williamson Sinalo reviews The Clinical Witness: Conflict, Catastrophe and Medical Testimony, engaging with the complex interconnectedness of contemporary crises and the moral ambiguities, responsibilities, and pain that come with bearing witness to them.
Consuming Diabetes: Advertising and Twentieth-Century Patient Organisations
Andrew Burchell examines what advertisements in patient organisation magazines reveal about medical consumerism and the globalisation of diabetes care.
The Language of “Lunacy” in Late Nineteenth-Century Egypt
Yasmin Shafei explores the language of nineteenth-century Egyptian citizens’ petitions and points to its significance for the development culturally sensitive mental health interventions today.
The “Having” and “Being” Modes of Depression
Joshua Clark explores the impact of grammatical and idiomatic differences between English and French on the conceptualisation, experience, and treatment of depression.
The Body in Pain Across Languages: Translating Medical Records into Art
Elena Foulis and Julieta Manrique consider additional ways to understand people’s experiences with illness and pain beyond spoken languages, focusing on Manrique’s paintings of her experiences with fibromyalgia.
Medical Humanities and Humanistisk hälsoforskning in Sweden: mid-1970s to mid-1990s
Kristin Zeiler reflects on features of the early field of medical humanities in Sweden, specifically focusing on Linköping University, and poses three questions for the field based on these features.
The Language of Medical Concepts in Spanish
Julián Bohórquez and Ivory Day reflect on the importance of translating fundamental terms in philosophy of medicine into Spanish, as well as the value of importing Spanish terminology into the Anglophone discussion.
Endometriosis in Words: Stories, Emotional Dictionaries, and Endostand
Loïc Bourdeau discusses the #ENDOs project and the deployment of narrative tools to challenge the normalisation of endometriosis pain, empower those living with the disease, and educate health practitioners.
Multilingual Medical Testimony: Bearing Witness to Conflict and Catastrophe
Nicolas Barnett, Nicholas Chare and Dominic Williams consider how issues of language and translation intersect with questions of power and identity in witness reports by healthcare professionals.