Summer Workshop: Anglophone Narratives and Postcolonial Medical Humanities

The medical humanities are a vast and burgeoning research field (Whitehead and Woods 2016, Gammelgaard 2022, Murray 2023) that explores interconnections of art, literature and medical discourses. Yet, although both medical humanities and postcolonial studies display an interest in deconstructing norms, the former can be rather Global-North-oriented and frequently ingrains Western epistemologies. Conversations between medical humanities and postcolonial studies have happened (e.g., Benabed 2024, Badmus 2024, Eromosele 2025, Slopek-Hauff 2025), but they remain few and far between. 
To this end, the summer workshop “Anglophone Narratives and Postcolonial Medical Humanities” takes up interfaces of and disconnects between postcolonial studies and medical humanities. Combining research perspectives that can productively contribute to a postcolonial approach to the medical humanities, the workshop will attune participants to the political and de/constructive dimensions of literary and visual narratives both in postcolonial and decolonial contexts and with an eye to (non-)normative figurations of illness and health. Comprising workshops and a panel discussion, the workshop aims to bring together established and early career researchers as well as students and to cover many regions, cultures and issues to consider for the broad reach of Anglophone postcolonial medical humanities. 
Free of charge, the workshop, generously funded by the German Association for Postcolonial Studies (GAPS), is open to students and doctoral students who wish to participate. A small fund for travel bursaries for students in need is available. If you are a (doctoral) student and would like to attend the workshop, write an e-mail to Christina Slopek-Hauff.

Note to students: Please note that the workshop is part of the English Studies seminar “Health, Illness, Mind, Body: Medical Humanities and English Literature”. If you are taking the seminar as such, there is no need to register separately for the summer workshop.

A detailed program will be made available in due time.

You can also look for more information here: g-a-p-s.net/project-fund-current/ 
 

Date: July 2-3, 2026
 

Location: TU Dortmund University, Rudolf-Chaudoire-Pavillon

Open to: students and doctoral students

Questions and registration: christina.slopekhauff@tu-dortmund.de