Huc-Hepher, S. and Kelly, D. 2024. Doctors Within Borders: Uncovering the Transnational Medical Heritage of London’s Dispensaire Français (19th to 21st Century) . French Studies and the Medical Humanities: Critical Intersectionalities. Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU 03 - 04 Sep 2024
| Title | Doctors Within Borders: Uncovering the Transnational Medical Heritage of London’s Dispensaire Français (19th to 21st Century) |
|---|---|
| Authors | Huc-Hepher, S. and Kelly, D. |
| Type | Conference paper |
| Abstract | Building on Huc-Hepher’s exploration of the ‘(de)medicalised self’ in the London-French context (2021) and research on ‘medical voluntarism’ (Smith, 2024), this proposal demonstrates ‘the fluidity of the field’ (Elsna & Wilson, 2024) by stretching the notion of ‘cultural production’ typically emphasised in the medical humanities (ibid.) to anthropological and historical ends. Situated at the intersection of the medical humanities, transnational French studies and social history (oral and archival), this presentation decentres the medical humanities from disciplinary and geographic perspectives, focusing on the London-based Dispensaire Français-Société Française de Bienfaisance. Tracing its origins to 1842, this charitable healthcare provider represents a unique case of uninterrupted Franco-British bilateral philanthropic cooperation and a site of intercultural, interlingual and transnational therapeutic encounter which has largely escaped scholarly attention. Merging with the Société Française de Bienfaisance in 2014, the Dispensaire Français (1861) has a rich institutional legacy involving the central-London Hôpital Français (1867), Nouvel Hôpital et Dispensaire Français (1890) and the Brighton-based Maison de Convalescence (1896) (Black, 2006; Thompson, 2014). Its current mission, namely to ‘venir en aide, par un soutien médical et/ou social approprié, aux Français et aux francophones dans le besoin au Royaume-Uni’ (DF-SFB website) remains true to its founders’ original objectives, with the sole prerequisite for care being to speak French. The unusual prioritisation of language over nationality/citizenship today means a significant proportion of patients have francophone African origins, adding to the clinic’s transnational/postcolonial complexity. The charity also plays a key intercultural-cum-intermediary role, demystifying NHS and/or welfare processes and safeguarding undocumented migrants’ anonymity. This presentation provides insights into both the intriguing history of the Dispensaire and the intersectional implications of its more recent medical practices among diverse vulnerable and marginalised French-speakers. |
| Keywords | Medical French Studies |
| Dispensaire Français | |
| French diaspora | |
| London | |
| transnational | |
| intercultural | |
| interlingual | |
| Year | 2024 |
| Conference | French Studies and the Medical Humanities: Critical Intersectionalities |
| Web address (URL) | https://ilcs.sas.ac.uk/events/french-studies-and-medical-humanities-critical-intersectionalities-0 |