Full transcript
0:04[music]
0:09[music]
0:17Hello everyone. I welcome you to my NPTL
0:20course introduction to medical
0:21humanities.
0:23First and foremost, I thank all of you
0:26for joining this course. The course is
0:29not just curated with interest and
0:32vision but is also deeply personal
0:36because this course has various aspects
0:41that I will be dealing with which I have
0:43personally experienced
0:45in and around me. Let's begin the
0:48course. The title of my presentation
0:50today is introduction to the course and
0:53needless to say I am going to talk about
0:56what do I do in this course week- wise
0:59but before that a quick overview of how
1:02I'm going to go about I will discuss
1:05this course over 8 weeks
1:08approximately
1:1020 hours and 40 lectures
1:13in which
1:15medicine
1:17intersects with literature, law,
1:21cultural narratives,
1:23films, policies amongst other things
1:26that I will try to map it with.
1:30Then I go ahead and discuss what are the
1:32objectives of this course, follow it up
1:34with w discussion and what do you expect
1:37from the course.
1:40Let me uh first begin by
1:44pointing out what is the main focus of
1:47this course. What is the core idea? So
1:49the core idea behind the entire medical
1:53humanities
1:54field as an academic discipline is that
1:57it broadens the way we interpreted
2:01medicine.
2:03Therefore in this course also I try to
2:06look at the narratives of medicine from
2:10more than the scientific perspective.
2:13I discuss what is the social and ethical
2:17implication of a disease. How does
2:20stigma play out? And in many ways, how
2:24do
2:26medical issues shape the narratives or
2:31narratives shape the way medical
2:34discourse take place?
2:36Literature
2:38is an ideal. Literature in all its
2:40forms. When I'm saying literature, I do
2:42not mean uh any particular genre. When
2:46Bob Dylan got Nobel Prize, who would
2:49have thought uh a singer could also get
2:52a Nobel? But then literature has
2:55expanded its boundary. Today as we
2:59interpret literature there are so many
3:01inclusions we make from Instagram to
3:04YouTube to blogs to short narratives
3:07long narratives all are part of
3:10literature and therefore I take up
3:12literature and culture as
3:15the motivating factor behind the ethical
3:18foundations that we can lay in society.
3:22Finally
3:24in a time
3:26which is postco
3:29the realization that our life is more
3:33precious than we imagined.
3:37Some of the aspects that I deal with
3:39also pinpoint that phenomena.
3:43But broadly speaking the entire course
3:46is a critical engagement between medical
3:48science and the arts.
3:51In that sense, I have set out five
3:54objectives for this course. We begin
3:56with critical thinking. So a course like
4:00this cannot be complete without what are
4:04the theoretical what are the theoretical
4:06debates in the field. Hence I begin
4:08there thinking about how health and
4:11medicine intersect with care and ethics
4:14leading to the discussion on medical
4:17humanity scholars who have led the
4:20foundation and expanded the debate.
4:23I take up films, texts, uh policies and
4:27practices and try to help
4:33the learners understand the medical
4:36authority and stigma especially around
4:38mental illness, menstruation,
4:40infertility, disability, aging, HIV,
4:43AIDS and pandemics.
4:47The difference between illness and body,
4:49culture, law, inequality.
4:52How do these factors shape society is
4:56also an objective of the course. And
4:58finally,
5:00the course discusses what medicine can
5:03do and how do we comprehend the limits
5:06of the medicine.
5:10Let us go week- wise. Week one is titled
5:13an introduction to medical humanities.
5:16And I begin with the introduction to the
5:18course like I'm doing now. follow it up
5:21with defining medical humanities.
5:26In doing so, I try to locate it in the
5:30Indian context but map it globally
5:34because we begin the course in just
5:37about some time. Immediately after
5:40defining the field I bring in the
5:42keywords.
5:45Now you know that language is language
5:49can be interpreted in different domains
5:51differently in hence in medical
5:53humanities
5:55what are the words representing words
5:58like body contagion care disability
6:03ableism mental health well-being global
6:06health
6:08many such words but primary keyword
6:11remains bioeththics with which I Again
6:16in lecture four I follow it up with
6:18three theorists.
6:20On your screen we have Rita Sharon,
6:23Arthur Kenman and Susan Sag whom I take
6:27up because they were the ones to lay out
6:31and expand the field of medical
6:33humanities.
6:35And finally in week one I turn the
6:41entire course towards
6:43the Indian context and
6:46discuss why medical humanities matter in
6:50India.
6:51This in nutshell will be week one.
6:55In week two, there are some lectures
6:58that kind of trace the global health
7:01trajectory
7:03and follow it up with how Indian medical
7:08healthc care evolved.
7:12We are already aware of the fact that
7:16India has had rich traditions of ayurvea
7:20yoga
7:22and at no point of time we can evade
7:26with the fact that it has rich history.
7:30So very briefly because it's a co it's
7:32an introductory course I try to
7:36touch upon those subjects as well so
7:38that you don't think that western
7:41medicine is the only canonical form we
7:43know there are many ways in which the
7:46discipline of medicine has been
7:49reconstructed deconstructed to find more
7:53inclusion more meaning so we discussed
7:55that
7:57now third lecture that I take up in week
8:00two is about illness and its metaphors
8:03and I discuss broadly the issue of
8:05language
8:07and try to see how language is seminal
8:11to the understanding of not just
8:14medicine but medical narratives as well.
8:18How do medical narratives
8:21present
8:22led dimensions of
8:25diseases
8:27for the policies to change
8:30for us to be sensitive towards what is
8:35happening around us the stigma that is
8:37associated with some kind of illnesses.
8:40So I discuss all those things and follow
8:42it up with a very interesting lecture on
8:45major signposts in medical humanities in
8:48India. I begin the discussion from 1971.
8:52So the MTP act I begin with and I go up
8:56to mental health care act 2017.
9:00So approximately
9:0250 years of healthc care I try to map
9:06and take up very important uh signposts
9:11uh totally in the interest of time. In
9:13fact uh one can do an entire course on
9:16uh major signposts. I just briefly touch
9:19if you are interested you can always
9:21expand with amendments with other uh
9:23healthcare acts. Uh there is a lot to
9:27explore.
9:28And finally, I take up COVID 19 pandemic
9:32because I think at least our generation
9:36of people cannot talk without
9:40coid9 pandemic. Whenever we are
9:42discussing health and well-being or even
9:45without health and wellbeing, I think we
9:48are post pandemic generation. Now if I
9:51am to divide uh how
9:54time can be kind of contextualized
9:59in week three I start locating the
10:02context that I will be dealing with.
10:04Naturally I want to emphasize that even
10:06here in the interest of time I take up
10:10only four broad areas of medical
10:13humanities.
10:14When I say broad areas, I mean thematic
10:16areas of study which I will try to
10:18contextualize here. I will touch upon
10:21the theoretical debates and briefly uh
10:23take up illustrations
10:26uh so that you get the context
10:29on which I develop the content in the
10:32later weeks. I begin
10:35with an interesting lecture on data and
10:37its implications because in medical
10:40humanities it's a very interdicciplinary
10:42multi-disiplinary kind of a field. So we
10:45naturally don't just employ qualitative
10:48data.
10:49So close reading is a method I follow
10:52but there is a scope for more and at no
10:55point of time I want you to think that
10:57closed reading is the only method and
10:59hence this is a good lecture for also
11:02students who are interested in decoding
11:05the research methodology part of the
11:08humanities and social sciences. This is
11:10a very informative lecture following
11:12which I take up reproductive justice,
11:15abbleism, mental health and trauma
11:17narratives as four broad areas which I
11:20will touch upon in the subsequent weeks.
11:24In week four like I said I I begin with
11:29the discourse of reproductive justice in
11:31India. The first of the discussion is
11:34around menstruation. I choose the great
11:37Indian kitchen for analysis. I follow it
11:40up with abortion narratives where I will
11:43discuss Matruumi, a nation without
11:45women, Chi and Jesar.
11:49In the third lecture which is part one
11:52and part two, I discuss a film called
11:55Mimi and try to
11:59align my discussion with the Serogaci
12:04Regulation Act 2021.
12:07Finally, I discussed Rohini Raj Gopal's
12:10what's a lemon squeezer doing in my
12:12vagina and try to look at the art
12:17techniques in India and find
12:21the gaps that we can address through the
12:23discourse on medical humanities.
12:26In week five, we come to abbleism and uh
12:30I begin with the discourse on childhood
12:33disability and dignity uh through two
12:36films from T Zaminar to Satare Zaminpar
12:40and then look at how the intersection of
12:44disability and masculinity takes place
12:47through two films again Burfy and
12:49Guares.
12:51a very interesting uh kind of uh
12:56discourse I try to establish in which I
13:00try to find the intersection between
13:04disability and sports
13:07and in this lecture
13:09I also bring in the gender angle because
13:11I choose a film which has in one there
13:17is a male protagonist and in another one
13:18there is a female protagonist and how Do
13:21they find their place in a sport like
13:24cricket?
13:26Igbal and Gumar are two films.
13:30Following which
13:32I think I take up the deadliest disease
13:35in India or the world that's cancer. I
13:39choose three memoirs for that. The test
13:44of my life from cricket to cancer and
13:46back by Yuvra Singh healed. How cancer
13:50gave me a new life by Manisha Kerala and
13:52Nilam Kumar and Close to the Bone by
13:55Lisa Ray. Finally through Gitanjali
13:59Shri's my and tomb sand I try to touch
14:04upon the discourse of how
14:07a natural process of aging
14:11also becomes a kind of a disability in
14:14the absence of a proper structure.
14:19In week six, which is also my very
14:23favorite
14:26week, I go ahead with the mental health
14:29issues. I begin with the politics of
14:31going mad, especially through Jerry
14:34Pinto's M and the big whom and his
14:36edited anthology, a book of light, when
14:39a loved one has a different mind.
14:42and then also discuss the mad woman
14:45trope and especially discuss Ganjali
14:48Shri's tomb of sand and the treatment of
14:51BB Halder a short story which is from
14:55the interpreter of malades by Jumpalhari
14:58now different discourses of mental
15:01health like stress anxiety depression
15:05which means some diagnosed but some
15:09around stigma some around just uh broad
15:13mental health issues. To showcase that I
15:15take up films like Tamasha, Dear Zindagi
15:18and Chichore
15:21to look at the nuances that can be
15:24expressed.
15:27In the fourth lecture in the week six, I
15:31take up the
15:34late life mental health challenges with
15:37particular reference to spousal
15:39beriement in man Gandhi Konahimara and
15:42goodbye.
15:44And in the final lecture of this week, I
15:47take up Alzheimer's as represented in
15:50Indian literary narratives. And I choose
15:52to study Jal Soobi in the shadow of
15:56light and girl in white cotton by Amni
16:01Doshi.
16:03Week seven is a kind of a mix but
16:06primarily around care.
16:10So we begin the discussion with Piku and
16:13clear light of the day. Many of you must
16:15have seen this film. So I talk about the
16:18care crisis and follow it up with the
16:21doctor patient empathetic trust and care
16:25through Munabhai MBBS and Dr. G. We then
16:29move on to
16:31discuss what I call the social
16:33construction of a particular illness and
16:36try to destigmatize
16:39through the narrative of Firm Me and my
16:43brother Nick Hill. Again in this lecture
16:47also I try to bring in the gender
16:49dimension of two people who have been
16:53affected by HIV AIDS who have tested HIV
16:56positive. But how does society responds
16:59to them?
17:02In an age of pandemic, I can't help but
17:06talk about epidemic. And therefore, I
17:09choose two texts, Fakir moan sapati's
17:12raati and Rajender Singh Bi's quarantine
17:15to talk about epidemics of the past,
17:18plague and cholera.
17:20To sum up this week, COVID 19 I merge
17:25the intention of reflecting COVID 19
17:28pandemic through one of the areas where
17:31I work for my research which is graphic
17:34narratives and comics. I take up four
17:37comics. Nagarat strikes the attack of
17:40Corona men, Priya's mask, kids, Wu and
17:44Corona, who will who wins the fight and
17:47be aware of droplets and bubbles and
17:52decode their position as how they played
17:56a vital role in disseminating
17:59information around coid9 pandemic.
18:03Finally uh we reach the week eight and
18:07in this week we will be
18:09talking primarily about a mix of issues
18:12but begin with humanizing the medical
18:15discourse in which I will take up
18:18interpreter of malades title story by
18:20Junalahi and emphasize on the role of
18:24language. You know that in India we have
18:27so many languages and dialects. we can't
18:29help but talk about linguistic diversity
18:32and how uh these medical narratives
18:36negotiate through the language. So that
18:38will be my first lecture and I will
18:40follow up with detailed discussion on
18:43biomedical ethics and cultural
18:45intersections.
18:47I
18:49think it is important to discuss AI in
18:52healthcare today
18:54and that is something I will do
18:58in due course of time and I will also
19:01try to look at the future scope of
19:05medical humanities.
19:07And finally when we end I will try to
19:12bring uh a summary to the table and also
19:17mark what are the highlights of the
19:19course. That's pretty much what is there
19:21in the course. I look forward to this
19:24journey of eight weeks with you. Welcome
19:27once again. Thank you so much.