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the-polyphony.bsky.social
The Polyphony
@the-polyphony.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1.5K following 170 posts
To stimulate, catalyse, provoke, expand and intensify conversations in the critical medical humanities. Hosted by Durham University's Institute for Medical Humanities. Supported by Wellcome.

https://thepolyphony.org/
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the-polyphony.bsky.social
The Polyphony @the-polyphony.bsky.social · Mar 31
🚀 Delighted to announce the publication of our new #MedHums101 brochure: ‘What is Medical Humanities?’ We hope it sparks your imagination, inspires your curiosity & encourages you to engage in our vibrant interdisciplinary field! tinyurl.com/what-is-med-...
Med Hums 101: What is Medical Humanities?
The Polyphony is delighted to launch the publication of a new brochure – MedHums 101: What is medical humanities?
tinyurl.com
the-polyphony.bsky.social
Dilip K. Das introduces an interdisciplinary framework for epidemic narratives in India by drawing on methods from literature, social theory, and public health. He explores how communities, writers, and scholars make sense of outbreak narratives.
thepolyphony.org/2026/01/09/e...
Epidemic Narratives
Dilip K. Das introduces an interdisciplinary framework for epidemic narratives in India by drawing on methods from literature, social theory, and public health. He explores how communities, writers…
thepolyphony.org
January 9, 2026 at 3:38 PM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
Xue Dong examines a seemingly euphemistic expression used by Chinese patients that may actually suggest serious discomfort.
thepolyphony.org/2025/12/19/w...
When “A Bit Unwell” Means a Lot
Xue Dong examines a seemingly euphemistic expression used by Chinese patients that may actually suggest serious discomfort.
thepolyphony.org
January 8, 2026 at 10:55 AM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
Surjavo Sen Gupta reimagines a multisensory art gallery as a space for restoration and ocular relief through his time as a walk leader at the Flowing Heritage exhibition at Arthshila.
thepolyphony.org/2026/01/07/h...
Holding and Beholding Art
Surjavo Sen Gupta reimagines a multisensory art gallery as a space for restoration and ocular relief through his time as a walk leader at the Flowing Heritage exhibition at Arthshila.
thepolyphony.org
January 7, 2026 at 12:25 PM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
Suniti Madaan discusses how Amruta Patil’s graphic narrative Kari reconceptualises graphic medicine to trace the sociocultural and temporal paradigms of sickness in Mumbai.
thepolyphony.org/2026/01/05/t...
The Boatman of the Sewers: Queering Graphic Medicine
Suniti Madaan discusses how Amruta Patil’s graphic narrative Kari reconceptualises graphic medicine to trace the sociocultural and temporal paradigms of sickness in Mumbai.
thepolyphony.org
January 7, 2026 at 9:32 AM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
Dolly Sen dismantles psychiatric authority through art activism, exposing the politics of diagnosis and reclaiming the narrative of madness.

thepolyphony.org/2026/01/02/d...
DMS 69: Art Activism as Rebellion Against Psychiatric Authority
Dolly Sen dismantles psychiatric authority through art activism, exposing the politics of diagnosis and reclaiming the narrative of madness.
thepolyphony.org
January 5, 2026 at 4:35 PM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
"Participants in Chronic Illness Inclusion’s research... explained that disbelief from medical professionals ‘knocked [their] self-confidence’... [they] were left wondering if they were ‘making things up’. Ultimately many were left feeling ‘worthless’."

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/22/e...
Whose Body is it Anyway? Epistemic Injustices in Healthcare
Leo Gunn explores epistemic injustice, “a wrong done to someone specifically in their capacity as a knower” in chronic illness.
thepolyphony.org
December 22, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Reposted by The Polyphony
miladaskalova.bsky.social
Back in August, I ran a poetry workshop for psychiatrists at St Nicholas Hospital in Newcastle. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my academic career, and I hope more will follow.

A special thanks to the History of Psychiatry Special Interest Group of the @rcpsych.bsky.social!
December 19, 2025 at 10:16 AM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
In our next creative piece for the 'In Practice' project, Greg Hoghman explores disability, geography and mobility through his digital cartography titled Travels of a Disabled Person Who Does Not Drive in 'America's Finest City (2003-2025).

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/18/c...
Cartographies of Disability through Creative Practice
In our next creative piece for the ‘In Practice’ project, Greg Hoghman explores disability, geography and mobility through his digital cartography titled Travels of a Disabled Person Wh…
thepolyphony.org
December 18, 2025 at 12:06 PM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
Anuj Kumar brings together ecological vulnerability, multispecies care, and relational health in his reading of Shaunak Sen’s film All That Breathes.

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/17/b...
Breathing Together: Multispecies Care in Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes
Anuj Kumar brings together ecological vulnerability, multispecies care, and relational health in his reading of Shaunak Sen’s film All That Breathes.
thepolyphony.org
December 17, 2025 at 1:56 PM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
Pragna Dev discusses the Indian care system in this personal review, in dialogue with Miller's foundational text.

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/16/e...
Exploring the Indian Care Labyrinth through Sarah Clark Miller’s The Ethics of Needs
Pragna Dev discusses the Indian care system in this personal review, in dialogue with Miller’s foundational text.
thepolyphony.org
December 16, 2025 at 1:00 PM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
Mila Daskalova reflects on the importance of poetry to psychiatry, both in the nineteenth-century and the present day.

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/15/p...
A Return to the Poetic Roots of Psychiatry
Mila Daskalova reflects on the importance of poetry to psychiatry, both in the nineteenth-century and the present day.
thepolyphony.org
December 15, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by The Polyphony
harrietcooper.bsky.social
"When anti-stigma campaigns shift away from acting on the wider determinants of health [..] they tend to [..] reproduce inequalities."

#RecalibratingStigma

@oliwilliams.bsky.social @gmthomas.bsky.social @amychandler.bsky.social
Tanisha Spratt

@brisunipress.bsky.social
December 8, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Reposted by The Polyphony
hannahfarrimond.bsky.social
Enjoyed writing this piece on 'Stigma's changing face' with Fay Dennis. The stigma of addiction and the stigma of Long Covid have much in common.
December 9, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by The Polyphony
oliwilliams.bsky.social
Thanks @the-polyphony.bsky.social for sharing your platform with us to give people a sense of what's in the new edited collection 'Recalibrating Stigma: sociologies of health and illness' Available as a free e-book or relatively inexpensive paperback 5/5

bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/recalibratin...
Recalibrating Stigma
Recalibrating Stigma - Sociologies of Health and Illness; Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Featuring original analyses from emerging leaders in medical sociology, this book r...
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk
December 11, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by The Polyphony
oliwilliams.bsky.social
Lastly Caroline Law and @harrietcooper.bsky.social pull together their respective analyses of male infertility and parenting disabled children to consider how stigma is involved in shaping and maintaining reproductive norms and idealised notions of family. 4/5

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/05/r...
Reproductive norms: stigma and disruptions in family-building
In the final of our ‘Recalibrating Stigma’ mini-takeover, Caroline Law and Harriet Cooper explores how stigma operates in relation to reproductive norms.
thepolyphony.org
December 11, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by The Polyphony
oliwilliams.bsky.social
Then @hannahfarrimond.bsky.social & Fay Dennis combine analyses from their respective chapters in the book to explore what the examples of Long COVID and drug addition can tell us about how stigma emerges, affects people, gets disrupted, and mutates. 3/5

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/04/s...
Stigma’s changing face
In the second of our ‘Recalibrating Stigma’ mini-takeover, Fay Dennis and Hannah Farrimond explore the contextually specific and contingent nature of stigma.
thepolyphony.org
December 11, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by The Polyphony
oliwilliams.bsky.social
The 1st post of the takeover is from me, Gareth, Amy, & Tanisha. It summarises the key arguments and concepts we put forward in the chapter we wrote for the book. In it we explain why both stigma and anti-stigma need to be better conceptualised and applied. 2/5

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/03/a...
What’s wrong with anti-stigma?
In the first of our ‘Recalibrating Stigma’ mini-takeover, Oli Williams, Gareth M. Thomas, Amy Chandler, and Tanisha Spratt introduce the concept of anti-stigma.
thepolyphony.org
December 11, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by The Polyphony
oliwilliams.bsky.social
2 years ago @the-polyphony.bsky.social kindly invited me @gmthomas.bsky.social @amychandler.bsky.social & Tanisha to write about the book we were putting together on stigma (see ⬇️). Now it's out @brisunipress.bsky.social they've let us do a mini-takeover! 1/5

thepolyphony.org/2023/09/11/r...
Recalibrating Stigma
Gareth Thomas, Tanisha Spratt, Oli Williams, and Amy Chandler reflect on the 2023 symposium: Recalibrating Stigma, Sociological Perspectives on Health and Illness.
thepolyphony.org
December 11, 2025 at 4:41 PM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
Nicolas Barnett, Nicholas Chare and Dominic Williams consider how issues of language and translation intersect with questions of power and identity in witness reports by healthcare professionals.
thepolyphony.org/2025/12/08/m...
Multilingual Medical Testimony: Bearing Witness to Conflict and Catastrophe
Nicolas Barnett, Nicholas Chare and Dominic Williams consider how issues of language and translation intersect with questions of power and identity in witness reports by healthcare professionals.
thepolyphony.org
December 8, 2025 at 12:11 PM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
In the final of our 'Recalibrating Stigma' mini-takeover, Caroline Law and Harriet Cooper explores how stigma operates in relation to reproductive norms.

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/05/r...
Reproductive norms: stigma and disruptions in family-building
In the final of our ‘Recalibrating Stigma’ mini-takeover, Caroline Law and Harriet Cooper explores how stigma operates in relation to reproductive norms.
thepolyphony.org
December 5, 2025 at 2:54 PM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
In the second of our 'Recalibrating Stigma' mini-takeover, Fay Dennis and Hannah Farrimond explore the contextually specific and contingent nature of stigma.

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/04/s...
Stigma’s changing face
In the second of our ‘Recalibrating Stigma’ mini-takeover, Fay Dennis and Hannah Farrimond explore the contextually specific and contingent nature of stigma.
thepolyphony.org
December 4, 2025 at 12:21 PM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
In the first of our 'Recalibrating Stigma' mini-takeover, Oli Williams, Gareth M. Thomas, Amy Chandler, and Tanisha Spratt introduce the concept of anti-stigma.

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/03/a...
What’s wrong with anti-stigma?
In the first of our ‘Recalibrating Stigma’ mini-takeover, Oli Williams, Gareth M. Thomas, Amy Chandler, and Tanisha Spratt introduce the concept of anti-stigma.
thepolyphony.org
December 3, 2025 at 12:24 PM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
In our next piece of lived experience creative work from the 'In Practice' project, poet and researcher Grace Marsh shares three poems.

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/02/t...
Transforming Fragments: Three Poems
In our next piece of lived experience creative work from the ‘In Practice’ project, poet and researcher Grace Marsh shares three poems.
thepolyphony.org
December 2, 2025 at 2:52 PM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
Órla Meadhbh Murray introduces the Gut Feelings course: a space for people to narrate, explore, and challenge their experience of gut symptoms.

thepolyphony.org/2025/12/01/g...
Gut Feelings: Challenging Crip Gut Stigma
Órla Meadhbh Murray introduces the Gut Feelings course: a space for people to narrate, explore, and challenge their experience of gut symptoms.
thepolyphony.org
December 1, 2025 at 12:11 PM
the-polyphony.bsky.social
Meenakshi Srihari offers a critical examination of how art addressing antimicrobial resistance draws on familiar war and superhero metaphors, and shapes how we imagine our entanglement with microbes.

thepolyphony.org/2025/11/28/t...
The Case of Martial Metaphor: Art and Antimicrobial Resistance
Meenakshi Srihari offers a critical examination of how art addressing antimicrobial resistance draws on familiar war and superhero metaphors, and shapes how we imagine our entanglement with microbe…
thepolyphony.org
November 28, 2025 at 3:08 PM