Translation and Medical Humanities: Creative–Critical Exchange with the University of Oslo

Illustration from Jean de Léry, Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre de Brésil (1578). Wikimedia Commons.

Through a Critical-Creative Prism: Medical Humanities and Translation was conceived as a foundational moment in view of the Translation and Medical Humanities Conference, taking place on 5–6 September 2023 at St Anne’s College. Its aim was to provide a platform for preliminary exchange between members of the Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation (OCCT) community and the Bodies in Translation: Science, Knowledge and Sustainability in Cultural Translation research group, based at the University of Oslo.

This exchange consisted of a workshop exploring the creative-critical potential of Translation Studies to address aspects of health and disease, followed by a discussion about the creation of a ‘Translation and Medical Humanities’ cluster within, and between, the OCCT, SHE [Centre for Sustainable Healthcare Education], and IKOS [Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo].

The OCCT delegation—consisting of Prof Matthew Reynolds, Prof Patrick McGuinness, Prof Simon Park, Dr Joseph Hankinson, Dr Tinashe Mushakavanhu, and Ms Georgia Nasseh—joined Bodies in Translation project leaders John Ødemark (Oslo) and Eivind Engebretsen (Oslo), anthropologists Charles Briggs (UC Berkeley) and Clara Briggs (UC Berkeley), as well as a group of PhD candidates from IKOS and SHE. Their contributions explored the interplay between literature, translation, and the body, varying in form, focus, and method.