Events | Scottish Gut Project

Past Events

27th-28th April 2023

(Kelvin Hall, Glasgow)

Concerns about gastric disorders have been around for centuries, but anxiety surrounding the gut intensified with the development of modernity. The rise of sedentary living and industrialised food processes deepened the chasm between what was perceived as a healthy gut and the status of people’s digestive systems. Often viewed as out of time with the frantic pace of urban working life, the gut has been characterised as a victim of modernity and yet the processes associated with it —consumption, absorption, disassembly, and waste — were closely allied to the project of modernism. Today’s scientists also note that the lifestyle changes caused by the agricultural and industrial revolutions have profoundly altered the ecological relationships and disease patterns of populations, notably the diversity of our gut bacteria. In this conference we explore the relationship between the digestive system and modernity including dedicated sessions on the gut and literary modernism.

Workshop 5: Speaking Patterns

16th December 2022, 12.30-16.30

(Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow)

SGSAH Workshop: Collaboration in the Medical Humanities

22nd July 2022, 10.30-15.30

(Advanced Research Centre, Glasgow)

Workshop 4: Wandering with the Vagus Nerve: Somatic Exploration

24th June 2022, 12.30-16.00

(CCA, Glasgow)

Workshop 3: Impact of gut health on sense of self

3rd December 2021 (CCA, Glasgow)

Workshop 2: Language and cultural assumptions surrounding digestive disorders

20th August 2021, 9:30-11:45 (online)

Workshop 1: Contextualising digestive disorders within Scottish history and culture

14th May 2021, 9:30-11:45 (online)

Outcomes

How are links between the gut and the mind thought and talked about in Scotland and how can the communication of these links be improved?

One of the current challenges to a deeper understanding of the links between the gut and mental wellbeing is the absence of interaction between those interested in the science, language and cultural dimensions of the gut-mind connection.

This project addresses this challenge through:

Workshops: those with practical expertise in gut disorders (practitioners and patients dealing with conditions such as colitis) will work with scholars from linguistic and literary backgrounds, historians and cultural scholars, and researchers from medicine, gastroenterology, and nutrition

Co-produced papers: based on the meetings, participants will deliver papers summing up our initial findings at a symposium. We will then develop the central arguments through discussion with the invitees and plan further collaborations

Co-written peer-reviewed articles: drawing on the symposium papers and in response to the discussion at this event, participants will co-write articles to be published as part of a special issue of interdisciplinary journal

Podcast: we will work with participants to reflect on how the project has changed their perspective on the topic and how they might change their practice in light of the Network’s findings

Project Film: through the activities in the meetings, the participants will co-produce material that will provide the basis for a short film targeted at a generalist audience with an interest in human mind-body health

Public Discussion: we will collaborate with LUX Scotland to produce a screening and discussion bringing together filmmakers and individuals from the medical community