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.
Monika Class reflects on some of the theoretical underpinnings of a post-pandemic, translational medical humanities and suggests that the concept of “material translation” might offer a productive way forward.
Brian Hurwitz and Magdalena Szpilman reflect on the seen and unseen dimensions of translation in the medical medical humanities. While Hurwitz examines the power of pretence in Classical medicine, Szpilman highlights the potency of the physician’s visual scream in 1980s Poland and today.
Alison Phipps and Tawona Sithole share a poetic call and response between gist translations of the Carmina Gadelica (1900) and daré wisdom of Ndau traditions.
Shijung Kim examines the intersection of medicine, fiction and translation in the work of renowned Chinese author and translator, Lu Xun.
Davina Höll and Nefise Kahraman consider the role of the non-human in a translational medical humanities.
Ahead of next week’s Translation and Medical Humanities conference at the University of Oxford, Marta Arnaldi and Charles Forsdick launch the conference takeover by imagining medical humanities as a fundamentally translational field.
Eszter Ureczky reflects on the growth of medical humanities in Hungary and points towards future areas of interest for the field.
Marta Arnaldi considers the development of medical humanities in the Italosphere, reflecting on its deep roots and radical visions of the future.
Claire Jeantils discusses the medical humanities in France and highlights what the French epistemological and pedagogical traditions might bring to the field.
Steven Wilson reflects on the importance of linguistic sensitivity in the medical humanities.
