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On Demedicalizing the Medical Humanities

Posted: 26 Jul 2011 12:07 PM PDT

Otniel Dror (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) has a fascinating new paper out in The European Legacy vol 16, no 3 (2011) entitled De-medicalizing the Medical Humanities. Here is the Abstract:

In this essay I argue that the integration of the humanities into "medical humanities" has implicitly medicalized the humanities.

This medicalization of the humanities suppresses those dimensions of the humanities that can most significantly contribute to medicine. I present my argument by studying the critical and crucial gap between the humanities as they are presented and taught in the context of medical schools, often as a set of skills, sensitivities, and competencies, and the humanities as they are experienced and lived in the humanities—as an ideological-ethical calling, which saturates and infuses daily life with an ethicizing, politicizing, and ideological critique. It is this core essence of the humanities that is abrogated and annulled in medical humanities. After presenting my argument, I exemplify some of the ways in which my colleagues and I attempt to imbue medical students with the critical and ethicizing outlook and calling of the humanities.

I am extremely sympathetic to Dror's concerns here. In fact, I have refrained from noting the article here on MH Blog because I have been desperately trying to make some time to give it the (blog) attention it deserves. I have not been able to make that time yet, but hope to do so in the near future, and if so, I will update the post and tack it to the front of the blog.

This issue of The European Legacy is a theme issue on medicine and the humanities, which is entirely worth checking out. Dror's article in particular is highly recommended.

(h/t Lit&Med listserv)