Medical Humanities and Disability Studies

Stuart Murray’s Medical Humanities and Disability Studies: In/Disciplines is a landmark publication in Bloomsbury’s Critical Interventions in the Medical and Health Humanities series. It is the first book-length examination of the relationship between medical humanities and disability studies, two disciplines at the cutting edge of innovative critical work in the study of health and disability. Although each has emerged from different heritages, medical humanities and disability studies share many features, from discussing the complexities of embodiment, identifying processes of exclusion and championing user participation, to a commitment to new forms of interdisciplinarity and critical writing. In/Disciplines presents a series of provocations about how the disciplines interact, the forms their practice take, and their strengths and weaknesses as working methods. With a focus on lived experience and life stories that give accounts of health and disability experiences, and through a mixture of creative and critical writing, the book asserts that both disciplines need to evaluate and challenge core assumptions if they are to remain critically relevant in the evolving study of social and cultural understanding of health and disability.

This hybrid event is both the launch of In/Disciplines and the conversations the book has and will continue to inspire. The first part of the event is a conversation between Stuart and Harriet Cooper (Norwich Medical School) about the origins of In/Disciplines. They will then be joined by Anne Whitehead (Newcastle University), Anna Stenning (Durham University), and Tom Shakespeare (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) in a roundtable discussion chaired by Angela Woods (Director, Institute for Medical Humanities) on the implications of the book for researchers working across the medical humanities and disability studies.

The event is free but registrations are essential. All are welcome!

This seminar is hosted by The Institute for Medical Humanities at Durham University and is delivered as part of the 2023-24 IMH Hidden Experience Seminar Series, which centres on hidden experiences of health and illness. 

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