by Renée van der Wiel My hope is that this poster might provide some light relief and a sense of community among those who have done in-depth social research in medical institutions. And, for those who have not, I hope the tool of humour here provides some insight into the emotional labour, tending towards existential […]
Latest articles
Medicine Meets Film: Dr Omneya Okasha Shares with Dr Khalid Ali Her Journey From Dentistry to Film Making
Today we are excited to present a new podcast as a “special extra” for January 2019. In this interview Medical Humanities film correspondent Khalid Ali speaks with Dr Omneya Okasha. Okasha is a dentist with a passion for film developed in early childhood. Bonding with characters on screen took her on a journey of self-discovery, personal […]
Walking Up Hills, Through History, And In-Between Disciplines: MHH And Health Sciences Education At The Tip Of Africa
by Carla Tsampiras Celebration, frustration, contestation, and imagination all manifest themselves when examining the evolution of the field of Medical and Health Humanities (MHH) at the University of Cape Town (UCT). That this field has been growing at the same time as access to, inclusion in, and social justice issues linked to higher education have […]
Field Notes in the Clinic on Medicine, Anthropology and Pedagogy in South Africa
by Michelle Pentecost In this commentary I draw on my experience working as a medical doctor and an anthropologist to explore what different disciplinary orientations allow us to ‘see’ in clinical settings. I argue that the anthropological skills of observation, privileging relationship, and of learning to foreground social context, have much to offer for teaching […]
Interview: Nolwazi Mkhwanazi and Emmanuel Babatunde Omobowale, 30th October 2018
Emmanuel Babatunde Omobowale is Nigeria’s first Professor of Literature and Medicine, a position he has held since 2010. From 2012 to 2017 he was also head of the Department of English at the University of Ibadan. Given that Medical Humanities is a nascent field in Africa, I am interested in the Nigerian experience of developing […]
Beyond the Lab: Eh!woza and Knowing Tuberculosis
by Bianca Masuku, Anastasia Koch, Ed Young, Digby Warner and Nolwazi Mkhwanazi The accompanying podcast offers a reflection on Eh!woza, a youth-based community engagement project focusing on tuberculosis (TB). Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Eh!woza functions as an interactive and interrogative platform, contrasting perspectives and concepts of TB as biomedical disease with personal experiences […]
Representing Disability and Development in the Global South
by Leslie Swartz Disability studies scholars have long been interested in accessible and alternative ways of communicating through diverse media including memoir, dance, photography and film. In some ways, these media may helpfully talk back to oppressive forms of representation and provide the space for an authentic self-representation. It is not, however, without problems, and […]
Introducing the MH Monthly Podcast!
LAUNCHING JANUARY 3: Medical Humanities is excited to present our newly re-launched podcast. Launching the first Thursday of every month (with occasional extra content on the second Thursday), this new and vibrant platform will provide conversations and interviews about current events, cutting edge topics, social justice and global crises from a medical and health humanities […]
The Foot: Three Poems
by Kobus Moolman In 2008, while on a residency at the Caversham Centre for Writers and Artists in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, I wrote, in a single sitting late one afternoon, a cycle of six poems about various parts of my body. There was ‘The Hand’, ‘The Foot’, ‘The Foot (the other one)’, ‘The Shoulder’, ‘The […]
Toxic Layering Through Three Disciplinary Lenses: Childhood Poisoning and Street Pesticide use in Cape Town South Africa
by Alison Swartz, Susan Levine, Hanna-Andrea Rother and Fritha Langerman In this article by Swartz, Levine, Rother and Langerman, we see the devastating effects of a hidden killer. Agricultural pesticides repurposed to kill rats and other unwanted pests have led to episodes of child poisoning. While on one hand, the pesticides are used to safeguard […]