The Polyphony

Am I queer enough? When theory and lived experience collide David Woodhead reflects on being gay and getting older.

David Woodhead reflects on being gay and getting older.

thepolyphony.org/2025/11/24/a...

Seeing Differently: Colour Blindness, Cinema, and the Politics of Perception Anand Padmasenan critically examines the relationship between colour deficiency, cinema, and disability through his documentary film The Color of Colours.

Anand Padmasenan critically examines the relationship between colour deficiency, cinema, and disability through his documentary film The Color of Colours.

thepolyphony.org/2025/11/21/s...

You and me, I and I: the queerness of intergenerational storytelling Becky Higgins reflects on her position as an autoethnographic researcher working collaboratively on the topics of memory and illness, exploring the queerness of storytelling as method.

Becky Higgins reflects on her position as an autoethnographic researcher working collaboratively on the topics of memory and illness, exploring the queerness of storytelling as method.
thepolyphony.org/2025/11/18/y...

Beyond Words: Creating Queer Knowledge Through Arts-Based Methods Sanjana Kumar uses her experience of the 2025 Queer Methodologies in Medical Humanities PhD School as a lens through which to re-examine her own research practices as a psychodrama therapist and ar…

Sanjana Kumar uses her experience of the 2025 Queer Methodologies in Medical Humanities PhD School as a lens through which to re-examine her own research practices as a psychodrama therapist and arts-based researcher in Kerala, India.
thepolyphony.org/2025/11/17/b...

Getting to the Heart of Interdisciplinarity Charlotte Lock reflects on the role of interdisciplinarity in her research on approaches to knowing, visualising and experiencing the heart. This article is part of a collection of posts from atten…

Drawing on her experience at the 2024 #MedHums International Summer School, Charlotte Lock reflects on the role of interdisciplinarity in her research on approaches to knowing, visualising and experiencing the heart.
thepolyphony.org/2025/11/13/t...

Not long left to apply to be an editor at the Polyphony!

Not long left to apply to be an editor at the Polyphony!!

We are pleased to welcome a new member of the team: Xiao Ge has joined as Guest Editor for the Polyphony Meets China (PMC) project! Welcome Xiao!

thepolyphony.org/2025/11/10/n...

Claire Jeantils and @sarawasson.bsky.social reflect on the experience of translating Wasson’s article “Before Narrative” into French, exploring the challenges and opportunities the process revealed for the field of medical humanities.
thepolyphony.org/2025/11/05/t...

“What would you like to remember?” Reflecting on Co-Constructed Memory and Identity in The Eternal Memory Michelle Sok I HE considers how Maite Alberdi’s film The Eternal Memory challenges dominant cultural representations of dementia and terminal illness.

Michelle Sok I HE considers how Maite Alberdi's film The Eternal Memory challenges dominant cultural representations of dementia and terminal illness.

thepolyphony.org/2025/10/30/w...

Chinese Tea as Therapy Xiaohong Liu introduces the concept and history of Chinese tea therapy, alongside its contemporary practice at Hunan Cancer Hospital in China.

Xiaohong Liu introduces the concept and history of Chinese tea therapy, alongside its contemporary practice at Hunan Cancer Hospital in China: thepolyphony.org/2025/10/28/c...

Fragments of a Fractured Self: Narrating the In-Between in Swadesh Deepak’s Bipolar Memoir Alina M. Jolly and Rayson K. Alex review I Have Not Seen Mandu, exploring its literary and epistemological disruptions of India’s mental health climate.

Alina M. Jolly and Rayson K. Alex review I Have Not Seen Mandu, exploring its literary and epistemological disruptions of India’s mental health climate.
thepolyphony.org/2025/10/27/f...

We’re hiring! Editorial roles with The Polyphony The Polyphony is seeking three Editors to join our team, two General Editors and one Reviews Editor.

We're hiring 3 new editors! 2 general and 1 for reviews!

thepolyphony.org/2025/10/27/w...

Multilingual, Transnational and Translational: Rethinking the Medical Humanities Charles Forsdick concludes the Reading Bodies takeover and discusses how this project on historical discourses of illness in European literatures and cultures contributes to rethinking the medical …

@cforsdick.bsky.social concludes the @readingbodies.bsky.social takeover and discusses how this project contributes to rethinking the medical humanities in ways that are simultaneously multilingual, transnational and translational.
thepolyphony.org/2025/10/24/m...

How Medical Metaphors of the Past Are Shaping Our Future In Part 4 of the Reading Bodies takeover, Rocío Rødtjer discusses the colonial legacies of nineteenth-century medical metaphors and demonstrates their ongoing relevance for the present day.

In Part 4 of the @readingbodies.bsky.social takeover, @rocio.bsky.social discusses the colonial legacies of nineteenth-century medical metaphors and demonstrates their ongoing relevance for the present day.
thepolyphony.org/2025/10/23/m...

The Biomedical Sciences and the Spanish Avant-Garde In Part 3 of the Reading Bodies takeover, Nicolás Fernández-Medina examines the Spanish avant-garde’s response to the biomedical sciences through the lens of Ramón Gómez de la Serna’s pioneering av…

In Part 3 of the @readingbodies.bsky.social takeover, Nicolás Fernández-Medina examines the Spanish avant-garde’s response to the biomedical sciences through the lens of Ramón Gómez de la Serna’s pioneering avant-gardism.
thepolyphony.org/2025/10/22/b...

Languages, Medical Humanities and Policy: Intersections in Research and Practice In Part 2 of the Reading Bodies takeover, Olivia Glaze considers the policy and impact potential of research on languages, identity and culture within the medical humanities.

In Part 2 of the @readingbodies.bsky.social takeover, @oliviaglaze.bsky.social considers the policy and impact potential of research on languages, identity and culture within the medical humanities.
thepolyphony.org/2025/10/21/l...

Historical Narratives of Illness in the Multilingual Medical Humanities Katharine Murphy introduces the Reading Bodies takeover and discusses what historical discourses of illness in European literatures and cultures contribute to the medical humanities.

@katharinemurphy.bsky.social introduces the @readingbodies.bsky.social takeover and discusses what historical discourses of illness in European literatures and cultures contribute to the medical humanities.
thepolyphony.org/2025/10/20/h...

A Creative Approach to Engaging Black Caribbean Women in Research Rianna Raymond-Williams discusses ‘Unboxing’, a methodology taking reproductive health research to Black Caribbean women.

"Rather than asking why specific communities are ‘hard to reach’, perhaps the real question is – have they simply been easier to ignore?"

Rianna Raymond-Williams discusses 'Unboxing', a creative elicitation tool she developed for her doctoral study.

thepolyphony.org/2025/10/17/e...

We Are Where We Are: Evolution and the Modern World Saurabh Chowdhury writes from an anthropological perspective to discuss the entanglements between evolutionary biological variations and modern sociocultural prejudices. Over millions of years, the…

Saurabh Chowdhury writes from an anthropological perspective to discuss the entanglements between evolutionary biological variations and modern sociocultural prejudices.
thepolyphony.org/2025/10/13/w...

Crip Time and the Recovery Paradigm: Clashes Between Institutional and Lived Temporality Employing Alison Kafer’s concept of ‘crip time’ as a mode of writing, Ayeong unravels the recovery paradigm and its institutional salience.

Employing Alison Kafer's 'crip time' as a mode of writing, Ayeong unravels the recovery paradigm and its institutional salience.

thepolyphony.org/2025/10/10/c...

This year, I've been lucky enough to work with @actionforme.bsky.social, as part of a collaboration between Action for ME and @durhamimh.bsky.social. (More on this soon!)

For now, this reflective post explains my motivations - and what I believe a collaborative, cross-sector approach can achieve.

Privilege and Pain: Why the Medical Humanities Matter Katharine Cheston reflects on her own experience of ME and the need for a more caring, curious, and compassionate approach to health research.

Katharine Cheston reflects on her own experience of ME and the need for a more caring, curious, and compassionate approach to health research.

thepolyphony.org/2025/10/09/p...

Abolitionist Futures for the Queer Medical Humanities Lola Dickinson interrogates her role as a historian within the medical humanities, questioning the functions of power, positionality, and perspective in her work.

@loladickinson.bsky.social interrogates her role as a historian within the medical humanities, questioning the functions of power, positionality, and perspective in her work.

thepolyphony.org/2025/10/08/a...

No Room To Rest: Dalit Motherhood(s) In An Urban Indian Slum Drawing on her fieldwork, Pragya Roy reflects on Dalit motherhood(s) as demanding, undervalued, embodied (re)productive labour. She critically explores health research, arguing that Dalit health is…

Drawing on her fieldwork, Pragya Roy critically analysis the everyday embodied material realities of Dalit motherhood(s) through the nexus of caste, gender, and economic class.

thepolyphony.org/2025/10/06/n...

Book Review: Exploring the Representation of Neurodiversity in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Jack Rhys Hancock explores the well-loved novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Simon Stephen’s play adaptation, reflecting its ongoing influence on the representation of Auti…

Jack Rhys Hancock explores the well-loved novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Simon Stephen’s play adaptation, reflecting its ongoing influence on the representation of Autism.

thepolyphony.org/2025/10/03/b...

“Not Like Them”: Opacity, Disidentification, and the Queer Art of Refusal in the Therapeutic Encounter Yann Phesans interrogates the concept of therapeutic neutrality, combining personal history and clinical experience to offer an alternative.

Yann Phesans interrogates the concept of therapeutic neutrality, combining personal history and clinical experience to offer an alternative.

thepolyphony.org/2025/10/02/n...

Polyphony on Women and Dis-ease Shu Yang reports on the latest developments in understanding diseases and disorders in the Chinese context from a gender perspective in medicine. “Dis-ease: Women and (Dis)order in China,” an inter…

Shu Yang reports on the latest developments in understanding diseases and disorders in the Chinese context from a gender perspective in medicine. thepolyphony.org/2025/10/01/p...

Book Review: Sleepless Planet Sathyaraj Venkatesan reviews Maureen Burdock’s 2025 comic publication, Sleepless Planet: A Guide to Healing from Insomnia, exploring its role as a graphic narrative in portraying sociocultural dyna…

Sathyaraj Venkatesan reviews Maureen Burdock's 2025 comic publication, Sleepless Planet: A Guide to Healing from Insomnia, exploring its role as a graphic narrative in portraying sociocultural dynamics of sleep.
thepolyphony.org/2025/09/29/b...

Book Review: Belly Full by Dr Heidi Edmundson Antoinette Polito reviews Dr Heidi Edmundson’s unflinching account of working as an Emergency Medicine consultant in a London hospital, and her embodied reflections on life in the NHS.

Antoinette Polito reviews Dr Heidi Edmundson’s unflinching account of working as an Emergency Medicine consultant in a London hospital, and her embodied reflections on life in the NHS.

thepolyphony.org/2025/09/26/b...