My mom has a bit of a problem with experts. If you asked her, my mom would tell you that the problem with experts is that they don’t have to justify their opinions on the basis that they have implicitly earned that trust, and, in the reverse, other people who are not experts have not. She argues that people who are not experts should be trusted to form and express opinions on a subject, and moreover that experts should be challenged to support their opinions better. I can’t say that I fully disagree. And yet when it comes to the concept of an expert and, by extension, expertise, I’m torn. On the one hand, experts should not have a monopoly on informed opinions. On the other, expertise is not just knowing the facts, but about understanding the context, methods, and unarticulated information surrounding those facts that contribute to interpreting them. This push and pull between formal expertise and informal knowledge is something I’m constantly struggling with as a junior academic.
Read MoreTag: medicine
Dissertation Progress – Week of August 17th
I maybe finished a full draft of my dissertation this week?
Read MoreDissertation writing (and writing, and writing)
One of the things that’s actually helpful about applying for funding to support me in my final year of dissertation writing is that it forces me to be reflective about the process of writing and take stock of where I am and where I still need to go. I just submitted what is likely my final application, my fifth since October, and I found myself adjusting my completion timeline yet again. As part of the application, most organizations require a timeline of the work you still need to do. I’ve used the same timeline for every application, organized by dissertation chapter, and tweaked it as time has gone on and I’ve actually checked some items off the list. But mostly, I’ve just kept pushing back the date that I’ll finish Chapter 2. My first version of this timeline, back in October, said that I would finish Chapter 2 in November. Now, here I am at the start of February and I just pushed the estimate to mid-February. Have I been kidding myself about how much work I still have to do?
Read MoreDiastasis recti, the history of round bellies, and making medicine about aesthetics
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, I am not offering medical advice.
Read MoreResearch Progress Notes – Week of February 11th
This week I largely finished with my manuscripts at the Wellcome, reunited with a past professor, and had a fortuitous meeting with a conservator. Read More
Research Progress Notes – Week of January 21st
I learned a whole lot about spices and trade. Read More
Cultural appropriation in wellness and the modernization of medieval medicine
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/wellness-influencers-indian-food
Fad wellness is more than just the fashion of health, it’s often the fashion of other cultures. Read More
Research Progress Notes – Week of November 26th
Last week I stayed home and did some editing. This week I read more medieval writings about urine. So, pretty mundane stuff. Read More
Old Medicine is New Again
Like a lot of people, I was surprised to learn that cupping had made a comeback. But unlike most people, I knew what cupping was before 2016. Read More
