Narrative medicine: Reading, healthcare, and humanity
An open lecture by Danielle Spencer.
Narrative medicine brings healthcare into conversation with literature. It begins with a comparison between listening and reading, with the physician as the “reader” and interpreter of stories of illness. Honing skills of close reading is thought to improve clinical skills. This comparison then broadens to invite wider questions. For example, who is entitled to read and interpret—might there be a shared responsibility? What is the scope of the “text” being read—does it include simply the biomedical data, or the lifeworld of the person? And to what extent is the relationship of care displaced by data-driven systems? Narrative medicine offers tools to preserve our humanity as we move further into an age dominated by systemic control, technology and now AI.
Biography
Danielle Spencer, PhD, is on the Narrative Medicine faculty of Columbia University. Author of Metagnosis: Revelatory Narratives of Health and Identity (Oxford University Press, 2021) and co-author of Perkins-Prize-winning The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine (OUP, 2017), her scholarly and creative work appears in diverse outlets, from The Lancet to Ploughshares. She is also Editor of the Anthem Press Advances in Human Medicines book series. Formerly artist/musician David Byrne’s Art Director, she lectures widely on the intersection between narrative and health. www.daniellespencer.com.
The event is organized by Uniarts Helsinki’s Health, Narrative, and the Arts research project, in collaboration with the University of Helsinki’s Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, and the University of Turku and Kone foundation’s Words for care project.
Narrative medicine brings healthcare into conversation with literature. It begins with a comparison between listening and reading, with the physician as the “reader” and interpreter of stories of illness. Honing skills of close reading is thought to improve clinical skills. This comparison then broadens to invite wider questions. For example, who is entitled to read and interpret—might there be a shared responsibility? What is the scope of the “text” being read—does it include simply the biomedical data, or the lifeworld of the person? And to what extent is the relationship of care displaced by data-driven systems? Narrative medicine offers tools to preserve our humanity as we move further into an age dominated by systemic control, technology and now AI.
Biography
Danielle Spencer, PhD, is on the Narrative Medicine faculty of Columbia University. Author of Metagnosis: Revelatory Narratives of Health and Identity (Oxford University Press, 2021) and co-author of Perkins-Prize-winning The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine (OUP, 2017), her scholarly and creative work appears in diverse outlets, from The Lancet to Ploughshares. She is also Editor of the Anthem Press Advances in Human Medicines book series. Formerly artist/musician David Byrne’s Art Director, she lectures widely on the intersection between narrative and health. www.daniellespencer.com.
The event is organized by Uniarts Helsinki’s Health, Narrative, and the Arts research project, in collaboration with the University of Helsinki’s Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, and the University of Turku and Kone foundation’s Words for care project.