WHO I AM:
Muna Al-Jawad
WHAT I DO:
Consultant in Elderly Medicine, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals.
MY CONNECTION TO GRAPHIC MEDICINE:
Local coordinator or Chair of 2013 Comics and Medicine conference in Brighton
HOW I USE GRAPHIC MEDICINE IN MY WORK:
1. Superhero alter-ego helps me make sense of what I do
www.oldpersonwhisperer.tumblr.com
2. Teach medical students and other healthcare professionals to make sense of what they do using comics
PROJECTS I’M WORKING ON RIGHT NOW:
Attempting PhD research using comics to investigate identity of medical practitioners. For more on comics as methodology see:
Al-Jawad M. Comics are Research: Graphic Narratives as a New Way of Seeing Clinical Practice. Journal of Medical Humantities. February 2013.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10912-013-9205-0
PROJECTS BY OTHERS I’M EXCITED ABOUT RIGHT NOW:
I was completely overwhelmed by the quality and diversity of abstracts submitted for the 2013 conference. There is so much good stuff going on at the moment, from artists to clinicians to academics to comics enthusiasts and lots of combinations of those- we hope to represent that at the conference and do the work justice.
I think what excites me about the concept of graphic medicine is that everyone learns something from it. It takes all of us out of our comfort zone. It gives a voice to those people that might be otherwise unheard. It allows us to say the unsayable. Both reader and creator learn through the process.
In terms of naming a specific thing, my screensaver at the moment is by Nick Wadley.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2012/jul/23/drawings-of-doctors-nick-wadley?newsfeed=true
WHAT I’LL BE PRESENTING ON IN BRIGHTON:
What has medicine done to me? Using comics to explore how doctors accept and resist medical “regard” and the impact this has on humane practice
A FEW THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO AT THE 2013 BRIGHTON COMICS & MEDICINE CONFERENCE:
1. The general buzz/chat
2. The comics marketplace
3. Seeing the Brighton SSC-comics students present their work (Go Beth, Kuru, Bethany and Jaymi!)
4. Getting loads of ideas for my ongoing research work (thanks everyone, you’ll all be credited)
Great to ‘meet’ you, Muna again, through this site / sight – loved your enthusiasm and the comic – lovely, moving, informative.
Looking forward to the conference.
Just wondering when the next meeting/conference might be – sorry I missed this one. C
Hello, I discovered your organisation when the BBC featured you on their news site. I’m a Graphic Design graduate, Childrens’ book in visual games, diagrams etc (pub.UK &US), Dance Movement Therapy Roehampton, Physical Theatre and passionate about playfulness. So I was blown away by your organisation. We make workshops using micro design tasks as our process structure and we see our workshops also as a research tool as well as for interpersonal skills development.
Our experience so far in with teenagers (Interfaith) and older people (friendship).
Does what we do interest you?
Hi Rozelle, your approach seems innovative and fun. We are fairly open with our definition of comics (?sequential images) so if you feel what you do is in some way comics-related please feel free to submit an abstract to the Baltimore conference with more detail about what you do/ examples of your work. The deadline is 14th Feb. More details in the “conferences” bit of this website. All the best, Muna
sorry… forgot to complete email…
Hello – I gave up as I did’t hear back – what a shame – can I contact you?
Rozelle – Muna replied on 2/5, see above. Is there any other way we can help you?