This AHRC-funded Fellowship analyses representations of bodies and minds in Spanish and European literatures and cultures, contributing to the rapidly-growing field of Multilingual Medical Humanities. Drawing together specialists in Modern Languages, Medical Humanities, Creative Writing, Public Health and Psychology, the project traces the development of narratives of illness from the 1870s to the 1960s, and their legacy in the present day, with particular attention to gendered representations of psychological and physical conditions. Foregrounding Hispanic Studies alongside French, German, Italian and Portuguese, the project seeks to foster collaboration and shared insights across languages and other academic disciplines. The project analyses the importance of cultural representation for the dissemination and legitimisation of ideas about health and illness, and the ways in which literary and other cultural texts express social preoccupations, including during periods of upheaval and change.
More information about the project can be found in Prof. Katharine Murphy’s piece on ‘Reading Bodies in European Literatures and Cultures’ (2024) published in the Multilingual Medical Humanities series of The Polyphony.
Our engagement activities include a creative workshop and anthology on Reading Bodies: Burnout, Overload and Resilience in writing and visual art published in collaboration with Riptide Journal; you can find a 4-page comic produced for the project by Hannah Berry on burnout in creative industries here. A speaker event on reading bodies in literary fiction and life-writing is planned in May 2025.
Our project is featured on the University of Exeter’s Public Engagement with Research blog, and the Behavioural and Cultural Insights into Health Hub. If you are interested in learning more about the project, please contact the team.
This project is generously funded by an AHRC Research, Development & Engagement Fellowship (AH/X01133X/1), 2023-2025.