10-12 July 2018, Durham Breathing is a basic physiological process, yet also has deep cultural, spiritual and personal meaning. However, although breath and breathing are such resonant and urgent subjects, they have never been the subject of systematic cultural or … Read more…
Some may wonder why our project includes the consideration of medieval thoughts and practices relating to the breath. What can studying them possibly offer modern medicine? In a special edition of the journal postmedieval two of our project team, Prof Corinne … Read more…
5-7 July 2017, Portugal Life of Breath PhD student Fredrik Nyman and Durham anthropologist Christina Dobson are coordinating a panel at the EASA Medical Anthropology Biannual Conference Network Meeting: Bodies in Transition — Power, Knowledge and Medical Anthropology The panel, … Read more…
26 June 2017, Bristol As part of this interdisciplinary symposium, Jane Macnaughton and Jayne Wilton will explore the ways in which collaboration between an artist and an academic has opened out ideas about breath and its nature, stimulated new research … Read more…
1 June 2017, Leeds Prof Jane Macnaughton will be the keynote speaker at this one-day event, discussing ‘Sensation and the symptom: understanding the ‘feeling’ of breathlessness’. The symposium is interdisciplinary in spirit, with papers from a wide range of disciplines, … Read more…
Closing date: 21 June 2017 The Life of Breath team at the University of Bristol are recruiting a postdoctoral research associate in history of medicine. The post, offered for 2 years, could examine the recent history of COPD, which has not … Read more…
24 May 2017, Newcastle Breath Lab is an experiment; a discussion forum which brings people together to think differently about breathing, breathlessness and respiratory health. Convened by the Life of Breath research team, our first workshop will explore the language … Read more…
Life of Breath PhD student Tina Williams writes: The 2017 Research Without Borders Festival showcase exhibition ran at Bristol’s Colston Hall on May 12th. I, along with ninety-nine other research students, took part in this engaging research exhibition, with the aim … Read more…
Artist Caroline Wright writes: Earlier this year, a two-day project called Space to Breathe took place at Somerset House in London, a building that is located in one of the most highly polluted areas of the city. Commissioned by the … Read more…
Please note that audio files of all the talks given at this conference will be available shortly. Life of Breath PhD student Tina Williams writes: On the 16th and 17th March, The University of Bristol hosted a conference on phenomenology, anxiety … Read more…
23 March 2017, Cambridge Artist Caroline Wright has made a successful application to Arts Council England, in collaboration with Cambridge Junction and Life of Breath academic Prof. Gene Feder, a GP with a particular interest in lung conditions. Caroline describes her … Read more…
The header image shows a representation of the three wise monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. A parody of these monkeys (each with a different injury, bandaged or in a cast) can be found in … Read more…
Life of Breath PI Havi Carel writes: The experience of illness is a universal and substantial part of human existence. Like death, illness raises important philosophical issues. But unlike death, illness, and in particular the experience of being ill, has … Read more…
Durham team members Rebecca Oxley and Jane Macnaughton argue that, in order to treat breathlessness more effectively, we need a greater understanding of how it feels to be breathless and how this experience may be communicated. In particular they explore the differences between the way … Read more…
Our PIs, Jane Macnaughton and Havi Carel have contributed a chapter on breathing and breathlessness to a new book, ‘The Edinburgh Companion to the Critical Medical Humanities’, in which expert contributors from around the world map out the field of the critical … Read more…
Kate Binnie, yoga teacher and music therapist, writes: In his brilliant book Being Mortal (2015) Atul Gawande calls for all healthcare professionals working with patients at the end of life to “help people to end their stories on their own … Read more…
Elsa Hammond is a PhD candidate at the University of Bristol, working on breath and death in the poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Alfred Tennyson and Thomas Hardy. She writes: In accordance with Arthurian legend, Tennyson’s Arthur does not die absolutely … Read more…
Composer Toby Young writes: Tippett’s Fourth Symphony is a vast and complex tone poem, concerned with life, death and the very essence of being: a pretty impressive list of topics for a composer to deal with, perhaps, but not unexpected … Read more…
Would you like to join the Durham Life of Breath project team? We are inviting medical humanities PhD proposals which address either of the following topics Stigma and/or stereotypes in relation to breathing, breathlessness and/or lung disease Engaging with Life … Read more…
Throughout 2016 The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal will feature the work of Jayne Wilton, visual artist and Life of Breath project collaborator, on their front cover. Jayne works with a variety of media to capture the breath in 2D and 3D forms. … Read more…
Kate Binnie writes about the recent Medicine Unboxed conference (November 18th-20th, Cheltenham). Next year’s conference is on the theme of wonder and you can keep up-to-date via Twitter @medicineunboxed. The theme this year at Medicine Unboxed was mortality. This extraordinary conference is … Read more…
Kate Binnie, yoga teacher and music therapist, shares a memory of a hospice patient: Paula wakes early every day and spends time in bed, praying. “I’m a good Catholic girl” she wheezes up at me from her chair, grinning naughtily. … Read more…
Arthur Rose, post-doctoral researcher on the Life of Breath project, writes: The supplementary task in any interdisciplinary work worth its salt is to formulate a ground on which the work might be based. This ground may be some central unifying … Read more…
Rebecca Oxley, post-doctoral research fellow on the Life of Breath project, writes about the recent project launch in Durham (see Making the invisible visible (1): Life of Breath officially launched its programme of work in Durham this week by offering a … Read more…