information on the PHIL’s activities

Keywords in Critical Medical and Health Humanities Conference
For one week in the spring of 2024 (March 4-8), the PHIL faculty organized and participated in a conference on campus in which they shared with the Colby community their engagement with medicine and health from a variety of humanistic perspectives. Events in the conference ranged from traditional research talks to class takeovers and creative actions. Each was inspired by a keyword related to the field critical medical and health humanities, understood through the lens of the Colby faculty’s own research and/or teaching. Click here for a full schedule of events.

Medical Humanities Colloquium
Offered at least once a semester, the Medical Humanities Colloquium supports discussion of research in progress undertaken by Colby faculty, either individually or in collaboration with students or colleagues. Presentations may be virtual or in-person and take a variety of forms, from interactive lectures to creative performance.

Medicine + Race Lecture Series
Each academic year the PHIL hosts public lectures by leading figures studying medicine and race from humanistic perspectives. Faculty affiliated with the PHIL also meet with the speakers to share ideas about the medical humanities and host them in classes across the college. Guest speakers have included Bridget Durkin, Eunice Lee, Kirsten Ostherr, and Ruha Benjamin.

Slow Reading Group
PHIL faculty and members of the Colby community are invited to participate in reading groups to discuss texts authored by the PHIL’s affiliates or guest speakers, typically in advance of their engagement on campus. The “slowness” of the group speaks to a desire to read deeply and at a manageable pace, in contrast to the fast speed of many other work activities at and beyond the college.