Graphic Medicine's Possible Futures: Reconsidering Poetics and Reading

• DOI: 10.1353/bio.2022.a856091
• Publication Date: 2023-06-08T18:22:01Z
• Authors: Erin La Cour; Anna Poletti
• Keywords: Medical humanities; Poetics; Phronesis; Praxis

Graphic Medicine's Possible FuturesReconsidering Poetics and Reading Erin La Cour (bio) Anna Poletti Since its coinage in 2007 by medical practitioner comics artist Ian Williams, graphic medicine has steadily gained traction as an umbrella term for that explore healthcare issues, the theoretical discourse these engender, study of expressive communicative tools. Embedded within studies, interacts with interdisciplinary humanities, which applies insights from social sciences, arts to practice medicine. Primarily promoted a means engendering compassion practitioners training, goal humanities is: reconceptualize health care, through influencing students query their own attitudes behaviors, while offering nuanced integrated perspective on fundamental aspects illness, suffering, healing. In Aristotelian terms, aim improve care (praxis) refine complexify judgments (phronesis) clinical situations, based deep complex understanding (sophia) personhood, related issues. this respect, have more applied function than they are traditionally defined academy. (Shapiro et al. 192–93) Moving use institutions, predominately take form simple, top-down didactic infographics posters patient brochures, aims expand benefits using both training information dissemination. While visual shorthand is easy comprehend can be helpful providing patients important orients them relation specific illness or disability treatment, what lack in-depth exploration how disability, well systems statistics, make one feel. redress focusing affordances medium provide subjective into experiences various forms (Williams, "Autography" "Graphic Medicine"; McNicol; Squier Marks; Green Myers). Emphasizing examining potential juxtaposition incongruent texts images, verbal metaphor, color, line, pacing page layout, paneling, guttering, production expose may difficult understand explain either language alone. [End Page 1] The past decade seen proliferation comics, produced large part individuals aiming relay personal experience living particular disability. These works, along those perspectives doctors, nurses, workers, carers, family members, echo calls urgent need different understandings expressions found conventional discourse. Whereas institutions largely focus diagnosis, prognosis, takes bottom-up approach reveals communication not always straightforward. With identity constituted pathology body, often ignores encounter between professionals culturally bounded interpersonal one, influenced factors such cultural context, language, gender, class, ethnicity. To counter tendency, promotes depict interactions individuals, loved ones, wide array system scenes intercultural, interdiscursive, intergenerational encounter. focuses "taking back somatic dysfunction authority talking discourse" (Couser 348). Taking cues narrative medicine, long advocated reading literature writing reflectively treatment (Milota al.; Charon; Medicine"), handful schools begun encouraging read gain (future) experiencing. Comics about now often...