Andrew Godfrey // In 2017 UK based children’s organization Empathy Labs started the initiative Empathy Day. Given that this day fell last Tuesday, and in light of Roanne Kantor’s recent post, I will here expand my previous thoughts on empathy[1] through a review of Anne Whitehead’s latest book on the subject.
Author: agodfrey85
“For your own good”: Health as moral value and political weapon
Andrew Godfrey // The focus of World Health Day 2018, which took place last Saturday, was on ensuring universal health coverage. Whilst the UK is often lauded as being superior to our American counterparts for having a universal healthcare system, closer scrutiny reveals that this is not always the case. More than this, it is…
The Limits of Empathy (Part Two: Empathetic Voyeurism, Selfishness, and Inaction)
In the first part of this series I looked at the possible limitations that might stem from the drive towards empathy that is one of the central concerns of the Medical Humanities, Narrative Medicine, and Graphic Medicine. In this post I will move away from questions of empathetic bias, and its sometimes questionable ethics,…
The Limits of Empathy (Part One: Selective Empathy)
A significant drive behind the disciplines of the Medical Humanities, the practice of Narrative Medicine, and the comics-based field and genre of Graphic Medicine, has been a focus on empathy. These fields have seen a need to emphasise empathy in medical training and practice in order to get away from the often depersonalizing and disciplinary…
On the front line: A review of Rachel Clarke’s ‘Your Life in My Hands’ & Adam Kay’s ‘This is Going to Hurt’
Last winter the UK’s National Health Service faced a ‘humanitarian crisis’ with two patients dying on trolleys in hospital corridors and the British Red Cross having to be called in (Campbell, Morris & Marsh 2017). Two books published by junior doctors last year give an insider perspective on this crisis, which was not an isolated one, …
My Graphic Medicine Journey (Part Three)
The life course being a journey with various obstacles to overcome, and lessons to be learned, is a prevalent metaphor that has achieved almost mythic status. The anthropologist Ronald Grimes claims that ‘we do not escape metaphors, myths, and rituals; we only change them’ (146). Over the course of my previous two posts (Part 1,…
My Graphic Medicine Journey (Part Two)
Referencing Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, the first part of this post discussed humanity’s predisposition towards metaphors of journey and quest, and the possible application (as well as troubling) of these metaphors, against my own experience of chronic illness, academia, and comics.
My Graphic Medicine Journey (Part One)
The idea that life is a journey made up of different stages is one that has appeared across time, in different cultures and media. It is a concept that is ingrained in our collective psyches, and cannot be escaped, being present in the way we choose to live, think, and speak about our lives.