Blog by Mzikazi Nduna, Stanley Molefi, Kamogelo Sefanyetso and Boitumelo Oliphant Department of Psychology, University of the Witwatersrand This blog is part one of a two-part sequence. Read the second part here. In his online profile, Anele Siswana introduces himself as a psychologist with an ‘isintu’ flavour and so does Nompumelelo Prudence Kubeka from uKhamba […]
Latest articles
From September’s issue: Enhancing Care through Gratitude
From our September issue: Giskin Day’s open access “Enhancing relational care through expressions of gratitude: insights from a historical case study of almoner–patient correspondence” explores how gratitude was central to the remarkable success of Brompton Hospital almoners tasked with keeping in touch with patients who had received sanatorium treatment for tuberculosis. Hear more about the […]
Paper Chain Nation
Blog by Katy Giebenhain On this side of the pond access to medicines is called “complicated” and that’s no accident. As Fran Quigley points out in his introduction to Prescription for the People: An Activist’s Guide to Making Medicine Affordable, calls for reform get bogged down in technical terms and acronyms. Furthermore, he writes, “[T]his […]
Accessibility Isn’t a New Coat of Paint: Chris Higgins on His Film ACCESS
Podcast with Chris Higgins, a writer and filmmaker based in Portland, Oregon and Brandy Schillace, EIC On today’s podcast, Editor Brandy Schillace speaks with Chris Higgins, a writer and filmmaker based in Portland, Oregon. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, This American Life, and Mental Floss, and his most recent book is The Blogger […]
From the September Issue: “You shall bury him”
In the just released September Issue, we are happy to present “You shall bury him: burial, suicide and the development of Catholic law and theology” by Ranana Leigh Dine (@MacLeanEthics). You can hear a short audio of Ranana describing her work here: SUMMARY People often assume that religious traditions simply offer a blanket condemnation of […]
Get On With You!
Review by Robert C. Abrams, M.D. Field Light, Owen Lewis At the heart of Owen Lewis’ latest collection of poems, Field Light, is the story of a middle-aged man at a multi-focal impasse—emotional, temporal, marital, professional. That man is Lewis himself, who finds himself unable to move beyond a crucial juncture in his life. The […]
What Poetry Can Do For Us During the Pandemic
Blog by Alisha Yi and David Xiang “Thank you for this time. I needed this,” one participant remarked after sharing her poem of recently losing a family member. It is moments like this that we are reminded of the healing power of poetry—its ability to permit us to wrestle with our feelings, to redefine our […]
Making Bodies Kosher: The Politics of Reproduction among Haredi Jews in England
Book Review by Angela Davis Ben Kasstan. Making Bodies Kosher: The Politics of Reproduction among Haredi Jews in England. Berghahn Books, 2019. 286 pages. ISBN: 9781789202281. In Making Bodies Kosher, Ben Kasstan, a social and medical anthropologist, explores how Haredi (strictly religiously observant) Jews navigate the complexities of engaging with biomedical maternity and infant health […]
Call for Abstracts (Issue 11: Summer 2021): Illness, Narrated
Guest Editors: Silvia Boide, Benjamin Brendel, Maaike Hommes and Melanie Kreitler In response to debates considering the relationship between illness and narrative, and the extent to which these concepts can be seen as mutually constitutive, this issue of On_Culture seeks to gather new approaches and critical perspectives to the intricate relationship between narrative and illness. We welcome […]
The Best of Intentions
Film Review by Professor Robert Abrams, Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine ‘Papa’, directed by Natalie Labarre (2016, USA) Papa is a bright, fast-moving animation, delightful to watch, but in just over 6 minutes more complex and nuanced than one realizes at first. The film is an autobiographical take by the director Natalie […]