University of Bucharest | Literature, Art and Medicine: Bodies, Narratives and Critical Interventions
The Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Bucharest is hosting an interdisciplinary workshop 20–22 November, 2025. This event, held both on-site and online, seeks to bring together scholars to explore how creative and critical forms of representation have shaped, challenged, and reimagined the medicalized body from the 19th century to the present.
A wide range of genres and media are of interest—including novels, poetry, memoirs, visual arts, film, and science fiction—that intersect with medicine, illness, care, and embodiment. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
- Narrative medicine and illness narratives
- Pathography and life writing
- Representations of disability and the critique of the medical model
- The aesthetics of suffering, care, vulnerability, and healing
- The medical gaze and power relations in clinical settings
- Embodiment, identity, and the lived experience of illness
- Trauma theory and psychiatric representation
- Mental health, madness, and representation
- Death studies and end-of-life narratives
- Speculative and science fiction as a space for bioethical exploration
- Posthuman and cyborg bodies
- Intersections of gender, race, and class in medical discourse
- Literary and artistic responses to pandemics and public health crises
The organization particularly encourages critical approaches that foreground innovation, decolonial perspectives, and the ethical dimensions of storytelling in healthcare. Contributions that draw on interdisciplinary methodologies and challenge traditional boundaries are especially welcome.
An abstract of 250–300 words, along with a short bio of 100 words, should be sent to monica.manolachi@lls.unibuc.ro, lorena.mihaes@lls.unibuc.ro, and roxana.doncu@umfcd.ro.
The participation fee is EUR 50 for academics and independent researchers, and EUR 25 euros for PhD students.
More information: https://networks.h-net.org/group/announcements/20121928/literature-art-and-medicine-bodies-narratives-and-critical