{"id":1270,"date":"2017-09-14T14:00:51","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T13:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=1270"},"modified":"2018-06-06T16:12:30","modified_gmt":"2018-06-06T15:12:30","slug":"conference-report-empathies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/","title":{"rendered":"Conference Report: Empathies"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Empathies: 11th Conference of the European Society for Literature and the Arts’<\/a>, Basel University, 20-25th June 2017<\/p>\n

By Anna McFarlane<\/a><\/p>\n

The ESLA conferences have been growing for a number of years, working alongside their sister organisation in America, the Society for Literature and the Arts<\/a> to promote interdisciplinary communication through wide-ranging conferences that take one term as a starting point, deconstructing and recontructing it across disciplines and through varied media. The organising team for this year’s conference was headed up by Manuela Rossini, a posthumanism scholar<\/a> with a deep interest in the medical humanities, and an advocate for Basel, her home city, which provided a beautiful sunny backdrop for the conference with plenty of opportunities to swim in the Rhine. Her stewardship showed a programme that engaged with its subject deeply, firstly through the varied keynote speakers; neuroscientist Jean Decety, bioethicist and disabilities scholar Jackie Leach Scully, and philosopher Jesse Prinz, each of whom offered a very different epistemology for what ’empathy’ means, and whether it can be considered a basis for ethical behaviour, both in medicine and throughout society. Across the conference, much attention was paid to the arguments made in Paul Bloom’s book Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion <\/a><\/em>and other critical engagements with empathy, such as invited speaker Carolyn Pedwell’s Affective Relations: The Transnational Politics of Empathy<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

As well as exploring empathy through the body of the conference, Basel University offered a number of workshops for early career researchers, one of which focused on medical humanities specifically and included guest speakers Anne Hudson Jones (co-founder of the journal Literature and Medicine<\/em>), Seamus O’Mahony (medical doctor and author of The Way We Die Now<\/a><\/em>), Ivan Callus (professor of literature and cultural studies at the University of Malta), and Marion Coutts (author of the memoir The Iceberg <\/em><\/a>which tells the story of her husband’s death from a brain tumour). The workshops were not the only extras on offer; a series of entertainments were integrated into the conference programme, including a reading from the English poet and philosopher Denise Riley.<\/p>\n

‘Empathies’ was a dense and fascinating discussion that ranged from medical humanities to theories of mind, and the ethics of artistic practice. The next ESLA conference is entitled ‘Green’<\/a> and will be held at the University of Copenhagen in June 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Empathies: 11th Conference of the European Society for Literature and the Arts’, Basel University, 20-25th June 2017 By Anna McFarlane The ESLA conferences have been growing for a number of years, working alongside their sister organisation in America, the Society for Literature and the Arts to promote interdisciplinary communication through wide-ranging conferences that take one […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[185],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conferences"],"yoast_head":"\nConference Report: Empathies - Medical Humanities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conference Report: Empathies - Medical Humanities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"‘Empathies: 11th Conference of the European Society for Literature and the Arts’, Basel University, 20-25th June 2017 By Anna McFarlane The ESLA conferences have been growing for a number of years, working alongside their sister organisation in America, the Society for Literature and the Arts to promote interdisciplinary communication through wide-ranging conferences that take one [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medical Humanities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-14T13:00:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-06T15:12:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/14\\\/conference-report-empathies\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/14\\\/conference-report-empathies\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Conference Report: Empathies\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-14T13:00:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-06T15:12:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/14\\\/conference-report-empathies\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":389,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"CFPs and Conference Reports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/14\\\/conference-report-empathies\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/14\\\/conference-report-empathies\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/14\\\/conference-report-empathies\\\/\",\"name\":\"Conference Report: Empathies - Medical Humanities\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-14T13:00:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-06T15:12:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/14\\\/conference-report-empathies\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/14\\\/conference-report-empathies\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/14\\\/conference-report-empathies\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Conference Report: Empathies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/\",\"name\":\"Medical Humanities\",\"description\":\"Providing a space for scholarly intervention into the conversation around medicine, as practice and philosophy, as it engages with humanities and arts.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Medical Humanities\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/blog-logo-mh.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/blog-logo-mh.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":34,\"caption\":\"Medical Humanities\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Conference Report: Empathies - Medical Humanities","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Conference Report: Empathies - Medical Humanities","og_description":"‘Empathies: 11th Conference of the European Society for Literature and the Arts’, Basel University, 20-25th June 2017 By Anna McFarlane The ESLA conferences have been growing for a number of years, working alongside their sister organisation in America, the Society for Literature and the Arts to promote interdisciplinary communication through wide-ranging conferences that take one [...]Read More...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/","og_site_name":"Medical Humanities","article_published_time":"2017-09-14T13:00:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-06-06T15:12:30+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Conference Report: Empathies","datePublished":"2017-09-14T13:00:51+00:00","dateModified":"2018-06-06T15:12:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/"},"wordCount":389,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#organization"},"articleSection":["CFPs and Conference Reports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/","name":"Conference Report: Empathies - Medical Humanities","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-09-14T13:00:51+00:00","dateModified":"2018-06-06T15:12:30+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2017\/09\/14\/conference-report-empathies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Conference Report: Empathies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/","name":"Medical Humanities","description":"Providing a space for scholarly intervention into the conversation around medicine, as practice and philosophy, as it engages with humanities and arts.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#organization","name":"Medical Humanities","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2017\/10\/blog-logo-mh.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2017\/10\/blog-logo-mh.png","width":300,"height":34,"caption":"Medical Humanities"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}