26 Feb, 13 | by Ayesha Ahmad
Having had the privilege to meet with Professor Swartz, I read his most recent book publication, ‘Able-Bodied – Scenes from a curious life’ with the jovial sounds of his uncanny ability to reflect on human nature and experiences in the background.
I certainly found Professor Swartz’ presence evident in the somewhat apologetic way he introduces and describes his family, as if telling a story and telling a secret amount to a similar thing. Yet, his words behold a compassion and gentleness that even the greatest of sentiments often fail to display.
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10 Feb, 13 | by Ayesha Ahmad
There has been continuous and vigorous debate about the theory and practice of medical humanities but only recently have questions been raised about the content and aims of the field in a global context. For example, in December 2011, Claire Hooker and Estelle Noonan published a paper entitled ‘Medical Humanities as Expressive of Western Culture’ in Medical Humanities. Based on their consultations with scholars in a range of Asian countries, they suggest that some curricula have been inappropriately influenced by Western medical history and the Western medical and artistic canon. This is not to deny that some Asian medical and non-medical faculties have long traditions of scholarship in social, cultural and historical dimensions of health and medicine. In spite of the diverse ethnic origins of professional healthcare students in the West, Western medical humanities has sometimes been, in effect, parochial. But those of us who have engaged in practical medical humanities teaching know that the motivations of all students, and their reactions to medical humanities, are diverse.
10 Feb, 13 | by Ayesha Ahmad
Ethics Under Cover: Comics, Medicine and Society
5th-7th July 2013
Brighton and Sussex Medical School
Brighton and Sussex Medical School in collaboration with Brighton and Sussex University Hospital Trust and Graphic Medicine invites papers for the fourth international conference on Comics and Medicine. Previous meetings have been held in London, Chicago and Toronto (more information atwww.graphicmedicine.org).
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30 Dec, 12 | by Ayesha Ahmad
The Hippocrates Initiative began in 2009 as the Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine for an unpublished poem on a medical subject. The Hippocrates Initiative now also includes an annual international symposia at which the Hippocrates awards are presented, an international research forum for poetry and medicine and The Hippocrates Press.
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28 Dec, 12 | by Ayesha Ahmad
“The persevering surgeon” an 18th century cartoon by Thomas Rowlandson shows a surgeon leering over a dead female body, a sneering smile on his face and her breasts in his fascinated grope. Although this makes uncomfortable viewing, a fascination with the details of human anatomy is something visitors can relate to, as they walk through the Museum of London’s exhibition ‘Doctors, Dissection and Resurrection Men’. Intricate sketches, eerie wax models, butterfly wing-thin cross sections of bone and tissue decorate the space, as the creators of the exhibition play up to their visitors’ morbid curiosity. more…
11 Nov, 12 | by Ayesha Ahmad
The Centre for the Humanities and Health at King’s College London invites you to a series of events to investigate the relationship between ‘Irishness,’ vision and medicine in modern Irish art and literature.
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Frankenweenie was originally created as a short film and you can sort of tell. The storyline is simplistic, doesn’t really go anywhere, and offers little in the way of plot. And yet the sophisticated content of the movie means that I’m inclined to judge this ostensibly child-orientated story against an adult standard. Indeed, from an adult perspective, the weakness of the storyline honestly doesn’t matter.
Far more important, and appealing, are the layers of charming attention to quirky detail that fans have come to expect of Tim Burton. Take, for example, the intricate systems of pulleys and levers, that are integral to the practical telling of this story. Cutesy in their ambition, brilliant in their resourcefulness and intricacy. Not to mention the whole host of unsettlingly recognisable, classic characters, that are guaranteed to leave audiences hungry for more. more…
7 Oct, 12 | by Ayesha Ahmad
I will remember the face of the man who I had not expected to see.
In suburban Johannesburg, the soil begins to turn into a rich gold color. The soil summons an enticing depth to the earth, where as Jean-Luc Nancy (1994) writes, we find existence as the cradle between our birth and our death. From our footsteps, the ancestors rise and embody the agency of new life. There is life upon death, upon death.
And this life has a heart that is vivid; a pulsation that is energising; a sound that is lulling. The suffering grows within each person as if the heart is enlarging so not to feign life; a suffering that bleeds the brightest red to signify the liveliest dance.
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4 Aug, 12 | by James Poskett
For those regularly following this blog, you’ll know I’m keen on exploring how maritime and medical history can be brought together, particularly with respect to developing critical global histories of both. If you share my enthusiasm, you might be interested in the following conference, due to take place 10-11th May 2013 at Wolfson College, University of Oxford.
Naval Expertise and the Making of the Modern World
One of the four major themes of the conference is ‘science and medicine’ including ‘the management of disease at sea’, so it would be great to see interested parties either presenting or attending. The call for papers is open now, with a deadline of 31st October 2012, and registration will open later in the year.
