Past & Present Special Issue Published: Medicine, Race, and Slavery in the Transatlantic World, 1600–1850

We are delighted to announce that the 2026 Past & Present Supplement series, edited by Hannah Murphy, has been published. The supplement, Medicine, Race, and Slavery in the Transatlantic World, 1600–1850, features articles by Hannah Murphy, former project member Carolin Schmitz, and project collaborators Sascha Auerbach, Teresa Göltl, Kevin Siena, Suman Seth, Rana A. Hogarth, Carolyn Roberts, Elise A. Mitchell, and Brendan Röder. We are grateful to all of our contributors and collaborators for bringing this wide-ranging collection of research together.

The May 2026 special issue of Past & Present brings the histories of medicine, transatlantic slavery and race into a single analytical frame, with case studies spanning Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas. The contributions examine medical practices within structures of slavery, genealogies of race-medicine, and how the politics of health and healing were themselves racialised, demonstrating how a critical approach to medicine offers a fresh perspective on the histories of slavery and a new understanding of the problems of race.

You can view the special issue here.