Online Workshop: Queer Medical Humanities

26 June, 11.00-16.00 BST

This online workshop brings together people who are interested working together around Queer Medical Humanities, an emergent sub-field that brings together critical medical humanities and queer studies (see Dalton and Chase 2024a; and 2024b). The workshop will frame Queer Medical Humanities and offer interactive sessions around queering healthcare environments, queer pleasures, and next steps for continued exchange and collaboration.

The event is co-hosted by Dr Ben Dalton (Queer Medical Humanities Network, University of Lancaster), Dr Stella Bolaki (Centre for Health and Medical Humanities, University of Kent) and Dr Dieter Declercq (Medical Humanites Research Centre, University of Glasgow).

We look forward to welcoming many of you! Programme details below.

11.00-11:30: Framing Queer Medical Humanities

Dr Ben Dalton (Lancaster University)
Dr Stella Bolaki (University of Kent)
Dr Zyra Evangelista (University of Glasgow)

11:30-13.00: Queering healthcare environments

This session introduces the Lancaster University-based project ‘The Queer Lives of the Hospital: An Archive of LGBTQIA+ Experiences of Healthcare Environments’. The project aims to build an archive of the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people accessing or working in hospitals in the Northwest of England. This interactive session will explore the groundwork of the project, whilst inviting participants to respond to the design of current hospitals and imagine hospitals of the future. The project team at Lancaster University is made up of:
Dr Christopher Boyko (Design)
Dr Benjamin Dalton (School of Global Affairs)
Dr Deirdre Duffy (Sociology)
Dr Naomi Jacobs (Design)
Dr Deniz Johns (Film)
Dr Kim Snooks (Design)

13.00-14.00: Break

14.00-15.30: Queer pleasure

This session introduces three interactive contributions on the queer potential of pleasure, i.e. the pleasures of neuroqueering; queering shameful pleasures in medical encounters; and maximizing pleasure as access principle for healthcare.

Prof Nickie Shaughnessy (University of Kent)

We will explore the pleasures of neuroqueering (Nick Walker, 2021) through stimming, a sensory practice, which although positively embraced by many autistic advocates as a well-being strategy is frequently regarded as harmful or disruptive behaviour in neuronormative environments. We will discover our stimming preferences and co-create collaborative stims that connect to the content of the other two presentations.

Dr Declan Kavanagh (University of Kent)

We will introduce participants to the 'impotence poem' genre and close read a few lines of Lord Rochester's The Maim'd Debauchee before inviting them to write about a time when a 'medical encounter' made them feel as if their own pleasure was shameful/invalid/a harm to themselves/something to hide (for example they can write whatever comes to mind following this prompt: 'Doctor: "Your pleasures are putting your health at risk" or participants can write or re-write an encounter with a health professional that made them feel conflicted about something that gives them pleasure.

Dr Elliot Evans (University of Birmingham)

Currently, access to healthcare in the UK is determined largely by the principle of ‘fitness to work’. What if this principle were replaced by another, that of ‘maximising pleasure’? We will invite participants to contribute to a manifesto for pleasure as guiding principle for healthcare.

15.00-16.00: Concluding remarks and future plans
Chaired by Dr Dieter Declercq (University of Glasgow)