NYU-Gold Webinar: The Seizing Subject: Representations of Epilepsy in Popular Culture and Why They Matter
For more information about the entire webinar series and other upcoming dates, click here.
This webinar aired with a live Q&A with Dr. Aparna Nair on October 20, 6:00-7:00 p.m. ET. You must have attended the live session to receive CME credit. The presentation recording (without the live Q&A) will be made available for viewing later on the Gold website.
1 CME credit is just $10; the Gold Foundation is supporting this series and has committed to making CME credit affordable. The webinar is free for non-CME attendees. Donations to support the Gold Foundation’s work are optional and welcome. Full accreditation information is below. More accreditation information is below.
Download full CME information (PDF)
SPEAKER
Aparna Nair, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor of the History of Science at the University of Oklahoma-Norman
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Nair’s forthcoming book “Fungible Bodies” (U Illinois Press, Disability Histories Series, 2022) examines the relationship between disability and colonialism in British India. She also works on the histories of technologies for disabled people (vision aids, hearing aids, prosthetics, etc); the histories of vaccination and quarantine in India; the material histories of vaccination (specifically the history of the vaccination certificate); and the changing representations of disability and difference in popular culture. For more information, please visit her website: aparnanairhistr.com).
My work approaches the body and corporeal experience through both history and anthropology. My research interests include disability studies/history, colonial medicine, the histories of public health (quarantine and vaccination in particular) with more recent interests in the relationships between disability studies/history and animal studies/history through the figure of the guide/service dog. I am also interested in the ways in which we represent disability and difference in popular culture.
My forthcoming book, “Fungible Books” (under contract with the University of Illinois’ Disability Histories series) is an examination of the relationship between disability and colonialism in British India from 1850-1950 and explores these relationships through the following historical figures: the “normal” body, the “lusus naturae” or the “monster” in colonial medicine; the amputee; the “infirm” subject in the imperial censuses; the “defective child” and the disabled/sick sepoy.
I teach courses on disability, history of public health, science and Empire and hope to be able to teach courses in the future on Animals, Science and Society and War, Medicine and the Body. For the History department I also teach History of India and History of South Asia.
I serve on the Board of the Disability History Association and manage their twitter feed: @DisabilityHistr. You can reach me at Aparna.nair@ou.edu
Education
Ph.D. (History and Demography) Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 2010
Masters in Public Health (Health and Social Behaviour) Harvard Chan School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA, 2013
M.S. (Economic History) London School of Economics and Political Sciences, London, England, 2003
B.A. (Economics and English) University of Michigan-Flint, 2002
Websites: https://aparnanairhistr.com/
https://www.ou.edu/cas/hsci/people/faculty/Aparna-Nair
SUMMARY
In this lecture, Dr. Nair will discuss social media and how it helps shape public perception and experience of epilepsy, and why that matters for physicians. She will focus on the social media ecologies of epilepsy, and how they reveal and exacerbate existing ableism, misconceptions, and facilitate the spread of dangerous tropes around epilepsy. But social media also helps epileptics connect across space, form community, alleviate each others’ anxieties about their illness, and seek solace.
The NYU Grossman School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
CREDIT DESIGNATION STATEMENTThe NYU Grossman School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. PROVIDED BYNYU Grossman School of Medicine
For more information about the entire webinar series and other upcoming dates, click here.