Who is healed when a story is told? In 2001, the physician and literary scholar Rita Charon published an essay in the Journal of the American Medical Association arguing that medicine required something she called “narrative competence”: “the ability to acknowledge, absorb, interpret, and act on the stories and plights of others.” Charon drew on…
Tag: public health
Book Review: A Monument of Charity: St. Vincent’s Hospital and Catholic Health Care in New York City by Thomas F. Rzeznik
In A Monument of Charity: St. Vincent’s Hospital and Catholic Health Care in New York City (New York University Press, 2026), Professor Thomas F. Rzeznik offers a comprehensive look into the daily operations of the long-standing, titular hospital. Through this process, Rzeznik celebrates some of the more influential women among the ranks of the Sisters…
What Can Chris Burden’s Performance Art Tell Us About Gun Violence?
In 1971, a crowd of ten people congregated after hours in an art gallery, F-Space in Santa Ana, California. They were there to watch the artist, Chris Burden, get shot. The bullet was supposed to only graze his arm, but it produced a slightly more severe injury. The few materials that record the…
“Venereal Peril”: ‘Controlled’ Prostitution and French Regulationism After 1945
Penicillin and the French regulationist system The advent of penicillin in the 1930s marked a significant breakthrough that revolutionized the therapeutic landscape for diverse bacterial infections, including those causing venereal diseases (Brandt, Jones 1999). The use of penicillin during World War Two led to a decline in the incidence of syphilis and allowed for more…
“Venereal Peril”: ‘Controlled’ Prostitution and French Regulationism Before 1945
The rise of “le péril vénérien” and the French regulationist system Venereal diseases were a significant social and medical problem through the mid-20th century. While syphilis had a long history, with its emergence in Europe around 1495 (Tognotti 2009), apprehensions surrounding venereal diseases didn’t surface until much later. Initially, these concerns were primarily directed at…
What did it all mean? The United Nations’ first conference on water in over 50 years
On the morning of March 22nd, 2023, I watched from a balcony as the United Nations held its’ first dialogue on the human right to water in over 50 years. This once in a generation conference was convened to review the world’s progress in assuring Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6), Clean Water and Sanitation for…
Beyond the Iron Curtain: A Plea for Eastern European Humanities (I)
I write this on the 347th day of the Russian Invasion on Ukraine, from neighbouring Romania. In between editing, I keep in touch with friends and colleagues across Eastern Europe: there is talk of a major Russian offensive this month and Moldova has, wisely and predictably, extended its state of emergency once more. On…
Thanksgiving, Tradition, and Ted Cruz: A Public Health Crisis
John A. Carranza // On November 21, 2020, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) tweeted the cover image of a trussed and cooked turkey with a black star immediately above it and the words “Come and Take It” below. The tweet is a take on the flag used at the Battle of Gonzales in Texas, in…
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Health ✪ Part 3 Civil Rights and the Body Politic
Sarah L. Berry // “Racism is a public health threat,” declared Dr. Lisa Cooper in a recent webcast. Over just a few months, COVID-19 exposed racial disparities in health on a national stage, helped ignite organized national protest over police violence against Black Americans,[i] and illuminated a link between persistent economic inequality (i.e., essential workers…
Already Quarantined: Yes, the “Spanish” Flu was Racist Too
Salvador Herrera // After the outbreak of racialized violence against Asian communities across the world, President Donald Trump, his staff, and supporters maintained that calling the COVID-19 disease “the Chinese virus” is harmless and has nothing to do with race.[1] Their willful ignorance attributes the phrase to the supposed source of the virus. However, the…