From models to test results, from diagnosis to surgical interventions, medical images encapsulate the scientific value of certainty as ‘bounded’ to the reading of the medic. Yet not only are medical images the result of multiple interventions and interpretations. They are also imaginary constructions, indicative ‘interfaces’ to the complexity of body and disease.
Reflecting on the crafted – hence, unstable and provisional – nature of medical images is an important skill for medics and anthropologists alike. Opening up the medical image to unforeseen narratives can promote empathy and caring towards patients. Appreciating visual story-telling can help medics to validate the patients’ imagined or actual life trajectories in ways that can be therapeutic in its own right.

This one-day workshop aims to bring together medical and anthropology students to think about and actively experiment with medical imagining, and images more generally. Participants will engage in open-ended interpretive endeavours of selected images through writing, group sharing and discussion.

The workshop will will be convened by Dr Paola Esposito (Lecturer in Medical Anthropology, ISCA, SAME) and Koot Kotze (DPhil Candidate, Nuffield Department of Primary Care). Perspective participants should submit a medical image that they find striking and that they would like to work with, along with a short text (max 200 words) explaining the reason for their choice, to Dr Paola Esposito and Koot Kotze, by February 1st, 2020.

The workshop is sponsored by Green Templeton College. There are no registration fees, but applying to participate is essential.