If all we need is to see the body to know it, what do we know? Throughout time, western medicine has sought to see deeper and deeper into the human body. Science has sought to develop technologies that help make the body visible, from X-rays to MRIs and CAT scans to microscopic imaging of bacteria…
Author: Heather Snay
Heather Snay is a 5th year PhD candidate at the University of Kansas in the department of Geography. She earned her MA from UC Santa Barbara in Global Studies. Currently, her work explores the intersection of geography and medical humanities. She is working on writing her dissertation which aims to explore the complexity of female chronic pain. In this analysis she utilizes the geographic self, a theory that conceptualizes the spatiality of the body, as a lens through which to analyze various humanistic mediums including patient narrative, visual artwork, and graphic novels. Her hope for this work is that it provides new ways of thinking about female chronic pain that can be used to create new ways of teaching about pain and approaching the clinical conversation with such patients.