Abeer A. Fahim

ABSTRACT

Literature and Medicine in the United Arab Emirates: Metaphors of Illness

Dr. Abeer A. Fahim

Institute of Applied Technology, Abu Dhabi

This paper will discuss the interdisciplinary approach of literature and medicine in light of the recent introduction of Narrative Medicine as a course at Fatima Health College, Institute of Applied Technology, Abu Dhabi. As an Assistant Professor of English with a focus in the medical humanities, I saw a need to bring Narrative Medicine to the forefront of healthcare education in our institution. My proposal for a Narrative Medicine course at Fatima College of Health Sciences (FCHS) was accepted and I currently teach and coordinate this course (which is also being taught at FCHS in Ajman and Al Ain). The course has been tailored to suit healthcare students in the field of nursing, psychology, radiography/imaging, paramedics, pharmacy and physiotherapy. 

This paper will examine the pedagogical approaches used to enhance the skills of creativity and close-reading and the application of these skills in critical practice. More specifically, the paper will address the importance of using literature to teach the subjectivity of health-related experiences and the interconnectedness of literary frameworks to stories of illness—while taking into consideration the specific cultural context of the region. While the principles of Narrative Medicine of recognizing, absorbing, interpreting, and acting when hearing stories of illness may seem general and applicable to all contexts, it is essential to consider that the cultural context necessitates that these principles be applied with a sensitivity to both the cultural values of the region as well its diversity and multiculturalism. The paper will focus on how these two sides are balanced while developing and teaching Narrative Medicine in the UAE. Drawing upon Susan Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor (1990), the paper will use the example of “military metaphors” in relation to a patient’s experience with cancer, to show how the linguistic underpinnings of these metaphors and their implications can vary depending upon the cultural and social context of a clinical setting. While Sontag’s attack on cancer’s military metaphors may seem applicable to some Western contexts, the application of Sontag’s work in an Arab context must take into consideration the difference in cultural perspective on the concepts of acceptance, surrender, and fight in relation to illness and death.

BIO

Dr. Abeer Abdel Raouf Fahim joined Abu Dhabi Polytechnic in January 2020 as an Assistant Professor of English. She also teaches Narrative Medicine at Fatima Health College, Institute of Applied Technology. She was awarded her PhD from Durham University, England in the summer of 2012. Dr. Fahim’s graduate research was focused on phenomenology and technology in postmodern American literature. Dr. Fahim worked as an Assistant Professor of English Literature in the English Language and Literature Department at the American University of Sharjah from 2012 to 2017. In the summer of 2017, she was a Visiting Scholar at St. John’s College, Oxford University. During her time at Oxford, she worked on her research project on narrative medicine and postmodern American fiction. She has also presented papers on the intersection of medicine and literature at many conferences around the world. Some of the conference venues include Oxford University, Harvard University, Dartmouth College, and Durham University. She has also published her work on phenomenology in postmodern literature.