Medical humanities and translation

Abstract

In this chapter I explore some of the intersections and entanglements between medical translation, as part of translation studies, and the interdisciplinary and intercultural field of medical humanities. I do so both from historical and contemporary perspectives. Medical translators have traditionally focused on biomedical science, a top-down, standardised body of knowledge that has dominated medicine and healthcare for a long time. However, biomedical science is the result of complex historical processes and exists in varied contexts. I first outline the historical perspectives which have preceded biomedical science. Then, I turn to more recent times, during which the evolution towards a more humanised view of health has been accompanied by the emergence of personalised and translational medicine. Medical humanities and some of its entanglements with translation form the next step in my overview. In the last few years, medical humanities has widened its scope to include critical and reflective factors, which offer an expanded framework for a more proactive presence of the humanities – and consequently, of translation – in the forging of medical and healthcare knowledge. Finally, I argue that narrative medicine is opening up a rich seam to be mined for translation practice and research.