New Directions in Medicine and Embodiment on the Shakespearean Stage

Dear Colleagues,

The prevailing emphasis in critical discussions of Shakespeare and Medicine focuses on the influence of Galenic medicine, the anatomical sciences, and medical professions and texts. While indebted to the innovative scholarship of early modern medicine, this issue seeks to reframe discussions in the field. It is our contention that there is much more to be said about Shakespeare, bodies, and medical thought in early modern England. This is particularly true of scholarship that takes a wider global perspective, adopts new critical methods for examining Shakespearean embodiment, and looks to alternative medical genres to address any of the topics referenced by the key terms listed below.

This Special Issue of Humanities seeks to interrogate where the field of medical thinking in Shakespeare might go from here. What new theoretical approaches can we take to early modern representations of gender and health, disability, spiritual afflictions, or the global medical marketplace?  Who counts as a medical practitioner?  What constitutes illness or health? How do environments shape human health on the early modern stage? How is gender, sexuality, race, complexion, or class medicalized in performance? We welcome a range of methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives.

Prof. Dr. Mary Floyd-Wilson
Dr. Katherine Walker
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Humanities is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.