Category: Uncategorized

By Ashley Boccio

When we look at ourselves and each other, whether we like to admit it or not, we tend to categorize and create groups based on image. For example, when you first meet an individual you may notice if they are blonde, brunette, or ginger. A harmless observation, yet this recognition of difference almost always goes beyond just hair color. Delving into the concept of “race”, a human made ideology not based in biology, we often use stereotypes to unfairly group individuals and make initial judgements on their character. Throughout history, various groups have been persecuted, exploited, enslaved, and ridiculed based solely on race. With this unfair judgement there comes an unwarranted justification for horrific acts without consent or reason. This conversation opens up the platform to the question: how can we learn from our mistakes and atrocities of the past to better ourselves as a society in the future? Although the past may be grim, it is important to dive into the truth on what really happened in order to better understand today’s social dynamic and how if affects our progress today. My personal goal for this course is to learn about and discuss these overarching ideas of consent, race, and prejudice, so I am able to recognize their place in modern society.

To channel our discussion, we can begin with looking at the medical field, and it’s history with the social constructs of race and consent. In Harriet Washington’s book, “Medical Apartheid”, she fearlessly exploits the medical field for their atrocities with involuntary medical experimentation on African Americans. This forced experimentation had gone largely undiscussed for decades and was avoided by almost all in the profession. In reading her work, it is evident as to why a majority of African Americans today have an innate fear and distrust for the medical field; often referred to as “iatrophobia”. In Washington’s initial introduction, a line that truly stuck out to me occurred between her and a colleague. In this conversation her coworkers states: “Girl, black people don’t get organs; they give organs.” A statement that sent chills down my spine, helping me to recognize the gut-wrenching fear and stigma that has followed an entire profession. It is evident that there is a large disconnect based in fear between medicine and an entire group of people. A sad truth, as the medical field can be used as a force of good and healing, and should not be feared in modern society. Even Washington makes it entirely clear that she herself is an admirer of the medical field and the profession, stating that she remains to have full faith in the field and its ability to change and progress for the better: “I am an admirer of medicine, and when not working alongside physicians in hospitals, I have spent decades profiling, describing, and analyzing medical advances and the remarkable people who have made them.” However, despite her love for the field, Washington strongly believes that the stories of these abused individuals need to be heard in order to prevent anything of such horrific scale from reoccurring in the future, even if it means exploiting various medical studies of the past. In doing so it is her goal to break down the barriers between African Americans and the American health-care system in order to benefit both parties in the future. Washington’s take on breaking down the dark under shadow of racism in the medical field is pertinent to the larger discussions being brought in under this courses epigraph.

In conversation about consent it is impossible not to look at Washington’s exploitation of the infamous “Tuskegee Syphilis Study” of 1932. The study is known for its barbaric practice and experimentation on young African American woman used to gain further information in the gynecological field. These women against their will were subject to surgeries that mutilated their bodies and caused them excruciating pain, all in the name of medical research. Due solely to their race, these individuals were pushed down in society, and never given opportunities to educate themselves or have a fighting chance at being able to escape studies of this nature; their bodies repeatedly subject to tests without their consent, or knowledge of what was going to be done to them. Even in today’s society, it remains a prevalent issue as to what women can and can’t do with their bodies. Consent, and lack of it, has been a large overarching theme throughout history, and it is clear that its discussion is essential to recognizing and breaking down its negative effects on society today.

Why is it that in our past we have allowed different groups of people to be subject to such horrendous treatment just based on a construct that we ourselves have created? And how can we possibly learn from this? In this course I hope to find the answers to these questions as we read different sources and discuss these difficult subjects. In Geraldine Heng’s book “The Invention of Race in the Middle Ages” he states, “So tenacious has been scientific racism’s account of race, with its entrenchment of high modernist racism…”. A great conclusion to our discussion as it en-captures the hard truth that racism, lack of consent, and prejudice have been the under-belly of our society for thousands of years. It is essential that we can recognize its darkness in order to remove it from our modern dialect and practice. When looking at today’s society it is important to frame our thinking as Washington has in her book. Although there are several horrors, in these horrors there are lessons to be learned. And that’s where I believe this course’s heart lies: in delving into the grit in order to understand how to work towards a brighter future. We can’t expect to change for the better as a society if we do not even know everything we need to re-evaluate and change. 

I have always hoped to one day work as a health professional, and this course is opening my eyes to the weight this field of work carries. In particular, I cannot stop thinking about the connection that has been crafted between medical advancement and exploitation of human beings. I wonder, how did this link grow so strong? What enabled this correspondence to continue for such a profound duration throughout our nation’s history without being detected or ceased?

Within the text Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington, lays an exquisite yet horrific insight to what our nation’s medical history consists of. A passage that particularly caught my interest was the case regarding Bessie Wilborn (Washington 134). Washington describes how Wilborn died around 1950 and that she had Paget’s disease, an illness that results in the breakdown of one’s bones (134). Wilborn’s body was autopsied by Dr. Peter B. Wright and her skeleton was then used in a pathology laboratory at the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) for many years to come (Washington 135). Wilborn’s skeleton was first shown at one of Dr. Wright’s meetings as Washington states, “…he displayed at that year’s winter meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in New York City. Her bizarrely arresting bony cage won Wright a medal for originality” (135). The daughter of Bessie Wilborn, Frances Oglesby, attempted to receive justice for her mother’s remains in a court case against the MCG in 2003.

I wondered how Wilborn’s situation was even possible. How could her bones be practically stolen from herself and her family and used in a medical college without anyone asking where they came from? I further examined Wilborn’s case and discovered the court ruling of 2003, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia v. Oglesby. The MCG offered to return Wilborn’s remains to Oglesby and her family and pay for the burial arrangements, but on the condition that Oglesby would rid her claims against them. Oglesby declined and in the end, did not win her case, as the court determined too much time had passed since the incident for her claims to be validated by law. Wilborn’s remains were to stay with the MCG unless Oglesby was to work out another arrangement outside of the legal system. The court suggested she return to the MCG’s prior offer. I then googled “Bessie Wilborn Medical College of Georgia”, and the sheer lack of results was alarming. Only three results actually pertained to what I searched for. This left a pit in my stomach as all I could think about was that her story is still practically hidden to this day.

In this course so far, (Literature, Medicine and Racism), I have been rapidly exposed to shocking realities of the medical world I did not yet know existed. The texts we have been reading have pushed me into a realm where I question the medical field and its motives. One example of this being Wilborn’s case in Medical Apartheid by Harriet A. Washington. My intentions of reiterating Wilborn’s situation and unveiling what our medical system’s history consists are to leave others with the same questions I cannot stop thinking of myself. Where does the authority and secrecy for unethical medical operations stem from, and how do we increase transparency for those that have been victimized? I also hope this blog post compels others to dive into silenced stories like those of Wilborn and Oglesby whose exploitation was kept in the dark.

Dionne Brand once said, “My job is to notice… and to notice that you can notice.” The ability to notice involves observation and understanding.  “To notice” seems like a simple task but is a difficult skill that can be strengthened. For example, one day it was pointed out to me that one of my best friends used the word “like” very often. Even though I had never noticed this trait before, everyday thereafter I noticed and was frustrated by the overuse of that conversation filler.  I believe that this same approach can be used to help eliminate racism. If everyone could be educated on atrocities that have occurred in the past they are far more likely to realize similar situations and avoid them in the future.  Everyone is responsible to educate him or herself and notice acts of racism so that they can begin to combat it.

I believe that the skill of noticing is paramount in changing societal views on race. If we as students, and ambassadors of change, can understand the formation and origins of race, we can begin to affect positive change.  Geraldine Heng wrote in her book The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages, “…race is a structural relationship for the articulation and management of human differences, rather than substantive content”.  Human differences are evident, but the foundations of race as we know it were set in place to elevate some and reduce others. Now that race has been defined as a structural relationship, observers can begin to identify acts of racism. Once acts are identified as racist to the general public, actual informed action can take place to prevent it. As a member of a group of people that experiences little discrimination, not all acts of racism were obvious to me. By learning more about racist acts in the past, I have gained a new ability to notice the numerous acts of racism that occur everyday without being noticed by ignorant bystanders.  Knowledge is a tool that is paramount in importance in terms of combating bigotry.

My prior belief of medical professionals is that they are some of the most knowledgeable, caring and selfless people in today’s society.  Harriet A. Washington has shaken my assumption in her book Medical Apartheid. It was a shock to me that doctors, in our not so distant past, treated African-American patients with such negligence. Washington tells of a story where a doctor “decided to amputate the leg of a fifteen-year-old slave girl without making any other attempts to treat the relatively minor injury”.  Previous to embarking on this journey I would have taken a doctors decision to be irreproachable. However, this act was willingly malicious to a poor girl who happened to be born with a darker shade of skin and it opened my eyes to the racism present among people devoted to healing.  This education has allowed me to be more cautious of those I believed to be antiracist, and notice racism in the future.

I fear that without proper knowledge of past atrocities in the medical field, new medical professionals are unequipped to notice discriminatory acts. Dr. Lisa Cooper of John Hopkins University School of Medicine conducted a study that showed that nearly two thirds of doctors exhibited unconscious racial bias. These doctors lack the ability to notice their own discriminatory acts against certain races. I do not believe that the majority of doctors see themselves as racist but are subjected to the effects of racist professionals in the past. I believe that is should be every physician’s own responsibility to educate himself or herself in order to notice that they are providing preferential care. The racism demonstrated by the doctors in the study may be unconscious but through education they can begin to “…notice that you can notice” as Dionne Brand has put it.

I enrolled in Literature, Medicine and Racism because it was a topic that was previously foreign to me. As a student applying into the medical field, I have not been informed on the racist past.  I have been educated to think about physicians as scientists who pursue knowledge in order to better aid humanity. Of course, this has not always been true. In order to become a physician who combats racism instead of perpetuates the system of racist traditions I must become educated on the immoral history of the field. A philosopher named George Santayana, has explained that “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it”. This quote inspires me to learn as much as I possibly can about the shortcomings of the profession that I am soon to enter, so I gain the ability to notice every act of racism and do everything in power to correct those actions. I vow to become more informed to strengthen my ability to notice and enlighten others that they to have the ability to notice.

Perspective and Position: The Connotation of The World

There are two essential parts of perspective: the position and placement of what we see and the interpretation of what we see—the two parts work together and it is often the case that people manipulate the placement in their work in order to produce an audience interpretation within the range of their desire. In order to create a specific impression for their audience who will be experiencing, artists and individuals take extreme care in their choice of placement in their work or in themselves.

This manipulation with perspective is commonly observed in visual art; a visual artist has complete control of the placement on their canvas, which displays a single moment—this depiction of a single moment is different than the series of moments that happen in our real lives and cannot be revisited in real time, making art an excellent example of perspective and manipulation. With the manipulation of placement in a composition, an artist hopes to create their desired impressions and general interpretation of the piece upon the audience. Art compositions are often described as something that will push people to think beyond the artist’s intentions and discern their own interpretation, but the artist’s intention also holds significant weight. This importance of intention is supported by the artist Steve Prince’s work, both through his enjoyment of listening to our class interpretations of his work and his confirmation of certain meanings and intentions behind his work. Continue reading “Final Reflection Essay INTD 288 – Perspective and Position”

To my knowledge, I’ve not had a professor or anyone in a position of authority in a classroom (where sincere questioning of power structures and imagining of new futures has happened) that has been visibly rural until this semester. In the first few weeks of class, I noticed our TA Katie’s accent. At first I wasn’t sure, but her lilting tone, rhotic accent (presence of the sound /r/ at the end of a word), and pronunciation of the short /a/ that’s characteristic of Rural White [Southern] English (my brackets) and Inland Northern American English. It was so gentle to hear. I did feel a little odd just asking sorta out of the blue where Katie was from (although I do try to use, ‘where’s home for you?’ to avoid the microaggressive implications around belonging of ‘where are you from?’). Continue reading “Looking at Folk: Black Rural Cultural Production and White Appropriation”

In one of its definitions, a veil is a fabric used to conceal, cover, or hide the real nature of a form or figure. It is often transparent but its presence is undeniable. In the case of the social world when connecting the idea of sustainability to the veil; it is clear that the veil hinders the possibility of such sustainability. When thinking about sustainability, how do we measure such an aspect? When thinking about the balance of economy, society, and the environment, we question whether such progress is possible. When defining balance in this context, we need to narrow down each subcontext of society, economy, and the environment to explain how each, need to be balanced internally, and then do play off of one another, creating this frame and template called sustainability.

Speaking specifically about society, I have never known of such internal sustainability in real life. The reason as to why this balance doesn’t exist internally is because there are division and disconnect present within it. This faction is fueled by the fear of diversity. In this context, diversity can be defined as the mixture and assortment of people from different backgrounds of all types, political, socioeconomic, racial, etc.   Continue reading “Strength”

I think in this class key terms kept coming over again and again, which is why I chose repetition. Even though we constantly had different professors talking about wildly different angles and viewpoints on Mr. Prince’s work, the Veil kept reappearing, as well as “process”, jazz, the Dirge, different ways of thinking about time, downbeat dancing et cetera. It very much seemed like everything converged back to the theme of repetition, as if, as Snead wrote in “On Repetition in Black Culture”, “Narrative repetition tends to defuse the belief that any other meaning resides in a repeated signifier than the fact that it is being repeated.” The cut back to original principles meant that no matter what topic our discussion meandered to, there was something familiar to go back, which strengthened the original idea. Continue reading “Repetition”

The terms growth and development are often used interchangeably, however the overall development process encompasses the many forms of growth we experience. The developmental process integrates and organizes all of the ways in which we have grown. Development is a lifelong process. Growth is quantitative, while development is qualitative. Development implies shifting, but it does not imply constant, consistent growth.  Growth is not linear, and so, development is a nonlinear process. Human development, identity development, urban development, the development of art, personal development, and communal development are all non-linear and not always visible or easily recognizable.

Without making an active effort to reflect on my experience in this class, I may not have noticed all of the personal growth I have made. The third learning outcome listed in the syllabus has advised us: “To reflect upon changes in learning and outlook over time; to make personal, professional, and civic plans based on that self-reflection.” The reflection process has been put into action through our blog posts, class discussions, these self-reflection essays, and each of our individual interactions with the material Dr. McCoy has provided us. Over the development of this entire class, we have been given the task to both reflect and build upon everything that we learn – whether the knowledge was sourced from Steve Prince, guest lectures, Dr. McCoy, a fellow student, or from our own individual vats of prior knowledge. The ways in which this class has fostered my personal growth will allow me to continue my own journey of self-development long after it ends. 

Continue reading “Growth within the Developmental Process”

The Urban Garden Experience on February 1st 2019 created powerful energy in the Kinetic Gallery, that I and many others in the room felt. Steve Prince and the jazz band and all of us gathered there together created a unique moment in time and space, and I keenly observed the ephemeral temporality of it all. This performance was just for us, but also open to anyone who happened to hear the music and poke their head in. Steve Prince was sketching the band in green and purple sharpie markers in front of us, and it was cool to see the layers of his process build on top of each other as he made his illustration in time to the music. This process of drawing that for him was so normal appeared to the audience as a live performance the same as the jazz. It seems like magic to watch a professional make art out of nothing in front of you in a few minutes. Steve Prince said he let the Holy Spirit move through him as he drew, and in his picture the Holy Spirit emerged out of the trumpet. Steve Prince was the focus in that moment, but the event was not about him. The crowd of people watching were also a participating community in the artwork surrounding Mr. Prince. I was very intimidated by the excellence of Prince’s figures and leaves, and hesitant to add something at first, but was convinced by other students that everyone is good enough to contribute. I drew a small figure climbing up a mountain, which represented exploration. I’m glad I made my mark I wasn’t sure what I had signed up for, but that day was a really great introduction to the spirit of the class.