#Ob/GynViolence: From French Studies to Narrative Medicine
This presentation examines the intersection of literature, narrative medicine, and healthcare practices in addressing obstetric and gynecological violence. It highlights how French literature and social media platforms have shed light on these systemic issues, offering narratives that demand recognition and challenge patriarchal medical practices. In particular, the analysis underscores how storytelling serves as a site of resistance and awareness. The presentation also explores the use of narrative medicine to educate healthcare professionals and to foster empathy, decenter power dynamics, and address biases in patient care. By bridging the humanities and medical education, this presentation proposes narrative medicine as a transformative tool to challenge systemic inequalities and enhance care for marginalized groups, particularly women.
Dr. Loïc Bourdeau is a scholar of French Studies and the Medical Humanities at Maynooth University, Ireland, where he also serves as Deputy Head of the School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures. He is former Louisiana Board of Regents Endowed Associate Professor of Francophone Studies at UL Lafayette. His research explores contemporary cultural productions from France and Quebec with a focus on minoritized voices, motherhood studies, and queer studies. In addition to articles, chapters, and special issues, such as the latest “The 21st-Century Social Novel in French” with Nottingham French Studies, he has edited or co-edited five volumes, including Revisiting HIV/AIDS in French Culture. Raw Matters and the forthcoming The Edinburgh Companion to the Millennial Novel (EUP). Other publications include ‘The Care (Re)Turn in French and Francophone Studies’ (AJFS), ‘Forgotten Class: French Literature, Medicine and Poverty’ (Literature and Medicine) and ‘SARS-CoV-2 and Discursive Inoculation in France: Lessons from HIV/AIDS’ (The Languages of Covid). With Prof. Steven Wilson, he is currently editing a special issue of BMJ Med/Hum, ‘Post-Pandemic Futures’. In 2023, he completed a graduate diploma in narrative medicine at Bordeaux University’s College of Health and leads regular workshops in Europe and the US.
This event is sponsored by the French Center of Excellence, which receives funding from French Cultural Services in the US and the Consulate General of France in Chicago. In December of 2020, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States selected the Department of French and Italian at The Ohio State University to join its prestigious network of Centers of Excellence. OSU’s Center of Excellence has the goal of promoting French and Francophone culture in the Midwest and beyond.
Please reach out to Professor Lucille Toth.297 if you need accommodations for this event.
