Book review by Laura Grace Simpkins Walter A. Brown. Liveright. 2020. ISBN 9781631497902 I was prescribed lithium carbonate—two 400mg tablets to be gulped down with a large glug of water before bed—nearly four years ago. For a while I knew only several vague details about my medication: it was ‘natural’, it could easily be ‘toxic’, […]
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History, Pastness and the Postgenomic Imaginary
Article Summary by Jerome de Groot The mapping of the Human Genome is one of the most important advances in scientific knowledge in the past century. It means that we can ‘know’ the human body in increasingly complex detail. In this article I look at the ways that a number of artists – rappers, poets, […]
Justice for Seni: A Public Campaign Against Racism in Psychiatric Units
‘RIP SENI’ (UK, 2021) Daisy Ifama, and Lizzie Reid film directors in conversation with Khalid Ali, film, and media correspondent ‘RIP SENI’ world premiere at the Sheffield Doc / Fest 6th June 2021, https://sheffdocfest.com/film/rip-seni On the 24th of June 2020, a graffiti reading ‘RIP SENI’ appeared on a public artwork outside Bethlem Royal Hospital, […]
Waiting Rooms, Art, and Equity
Blog by Alice Wang BS, Sidharth Chand BA, Hyewon Hyun MD, Megan Carleton ATR-BC, Daniel B Chonde MD-PhD Introduction Marginalized communities, especially communities of color frequently feel isolated and excluded from the healthcare system. A clear history of neglect, mistreatment, and experimentation has engendered mistrust of health providers and medical institutions. As entrenched […]
Tracing the Trajectory of the Bullet: Physicians’ Response to Gun Violence
Blog by Michaele Francesco Corbisiero, Violette Simon and Carlos Franco-Paredes On April 28, 1996, a gunman in Australia killed 35 people at a tourist site in Tasmania. Only 12 days later, Prime Minister Howard announced major reforms on Australian firearm laws.1 The government bought back 650,000 guns and the remaining civilian firearms were registered to […]
A Brief and Personal History of ‘What’s in a Name’ in Reproductive Genetics
Article Summary by Jeff Nisker Although Juliet’s claim, ’What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’, may apply to family names, ‘that which we call’ embryos and procedures in reproductive genetics often smell sweet because the names were created to perfume not-so-sweet-smelling practices. Reproductive-genetic scientists […]
Global Genetic Fictions
Article Summary by Clare Barker In ‘Global Genetic Fictions’, Clare Barker introduces the concerns of the special issue. This special issue explores cultural representations of genes, the human genome and genetic science in a range of artforms and genres, including poetry, genre fiction, rap music, TED talks, popular science, historical fiction and postcolonial literature. The […]
Sudanese Women Exercising Power and Politics
Suzannah Mirghani, Sudanese filmmaker, explores Sudanese matriarchal traditions in her short film ‘Al-Sit’ in conversation with Khalid Ali In 2019, Sudanese cinema came to the international limelight with three highly acclaimed films; ‘Khartoum Offside’ (Marwa Zein), ‘Talking about Trees’ (Suhaib Gasmelbari), and ‘You Will Die at Twenty’ (Amjad Abu Alala). These award-winning films were the […]
The Female Gaze in Film as Seen by Sarah Gavron
Podcast with Sarah Gavron Sarah Gavron talks to our film and media correspondent, Khalid Ali, about her passion in telling stories about marginalised women from diverse backgrounds in her films. She reflects on the creative process in adapting ‘Between two eternities: Saul’s Story’ book written by Rosemary Kay into ‘This Little Life’ film. Sarah’s film […]
Covid-19, Homelessness, and Healthcare Inclusion
Blog by Johannes Lenhard, Eana Meng, and Meg Margetts The overall support for homeless people—those who are often forgotten—in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic was unexpectedly generous. Service providers and homeless people and in particular those sleeping rough received an enormous amount of help, especially when the lockdown first started in March. Financed […]