Article Summary by Sarah Chaney Today, this trait is thought to be central to nursing. Policymakers, healthcare staff and politicians alike have debated the topic over the past decade. They have asked whether compassion can be taught or is caring an inborn trait. How might one measure or test someone’s ‘emotional intelligence’? And is compassion […]
Latest articles
We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation
Book Review by Isabella Watts Eric Garcia, We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation. Mariner Books, 2021. 304 pages. The well-respected political journalist Eric Garcia has written for publications including The Washington Post, The Week, and The New Republic for many years. He is now the senior Washington Correspondent for The Independent. This is his […]
Delirium in Hospital: Violence, Vulnerability and Humanity
Article Summary by Victoria Hume In the UK, hospitalisations from Covid have been increasing steadily since the summer. On 18 November, 923 covid patients were mechanically ventilated in hospital – this represents about a quarter of all mechanically ventilated patients.1 The Nuffield Trust tells us that covid patients typically stay longer in ICU than surgical […]
December Special Issue Podcast: Transplantation and its Imaginaries
Podcast by Brandy Schillace with Donna McCormack and Magrit Shildrick The Transplantation and its Imaginaries special issue proposes new understandings of the limits and possible extensions of organ and tissue transplantation that encompass cutting edge interdisciplinary research around biomedicine, philosophy, literature, film and transplantation studies. In our own era, the parameters of human embodiment are […]
Ka Mura Ka Muri: Understandings of Organ Donation and Transplantation in Aotearoa New Zealand
Article Summary by Rhoda Shaw and Robert Webb This article draws on research findings from a series of in-depth interviews with Māori (the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand) and Pākehā (European settler New Zealanders), concerning their views on organ donation and transplantation. Our findings show both differences and similarities between Māori and Pākehā understandings […]
The Illness-Disease Dichotomy and the Biological-Clinical Splitting of Medicine
Article Summary by Luigi Tesio and Marco Buzzoni Suffering from an “illness without a disease” is a common condition. The person is suffering, but no abnormalities can be found in the body. This is the case for chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, many chronic pain syndromes, and most psychiatric disturbances. The article replies to the debate between […]
The Women’s Hour
Film Review by Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent ‘Sixty Minutes’ TV series, directed by Miryam Ahmadi (Egypt, 2021) Available to watch on Shahid MBC. This review comes with a spoiler alert warning A ‘phenomenon’ is defined as ‘’someone or something that is very impressive or popular especially because of an unusual ability or quality’’. […]
Metagnosis: Revelatory Narratives of Health and Identity
Book Review by Swati Joshi Spencer, Danielle. Metagnosis: Revelatory Narratives of Health and Identity. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pages: 369. ISBN 978-0-19-751076-6. Danielle Spencer’s Metagnosis: Revelatory Narratives of Health and Identity (2021) is the strong jet stream that shudders the “biopathological” (8) gaze compelling us to “locate the pathology—in ourselves” (xi). Her research […]
September 2021 Standard Issue
Gut feelings: depression as an embodied and affective phenomenon in Houellebecq’s Serotonin Jenny Slatman, Inge van de Ven The rationales for and challenges with employing arts-based health services research (ABHSR): a qualitative systematic review of primary studies [read the article summary] Umair Majid, Sujane Kandasamy An intellectual history of suffering in the Encyclopedia of Bioethics, […]
Nelly: An Egyptian Artistic Icon
Blog by Khalid Ali, Film and Media Correspondent For those who are not familiar with the iconic Egyptian actress, singer, dancer and choreographer Nelly (Figure 1), think of three glamorous legends, Audrey Hepburn, Liza Minnelli and Marion Cotillard; Nelly has a lot in common with each one of them. The elegance and beauty of Hepburn, […]