Abstract
Using an online asynchronous class taught in the Learning Management System Canvas as a case study, this paper examines pedagogies in health humanities at the intersection of graphic medicine and embodiment of illness in literature. First, it addresses how the course material covers health, healthcare, and illness in the global context, through which learners investigate the selected artists and narrators as patients, caregivers, and advocates in print and digital comics, graphic narratives, and infographics. Some of the required texts include David B.’s Epileptic (1996), Ellen Forney’s Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me (2012), Dana Walrath’s Aliceheimer’s: Alzheimer’s through the Looking Glass (2016), Katie Green’s Lighter than My Shadow (2017), and Kimiko Tobimatsu and Keet Geniza’s Kimiko Does Cancer (2020). Secondly, this presentation discusses how the course design highlights health conditions, preventative measures, diagnostic processes, treatment plans, patient experiences, and clinical practices, as well as their impact on individuals, families, and communities. It examines how assignments prompt learners to dive into cultures, traditions, and practices related to health and illness in different regions and countries, using an interdisciplinary approach and paying particular attention to gender and sexuality, socio-economic status, and power structures. In addition, the presentation addresses how class discussions engage with politics of visualization, narrativization, and stigmatization of illnesses and medical and alternative treatment. Ultimately, the class aims to help learners acquire knowledge of the emerging field of graphic medicine as well as apply skills in humanities studies to analyzing cultural productions related to the embodiment of illness.
Presenters
Lan DongEndowed Professor, English and Modern Languages, University of Illinois Springfield, Illinois, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
TEACHING, PEDAGOGY, ONLINE LEARNING, HEALTH HUMANITIES, GRAPHIC MEDICINE
