Date of Award

5-19-2022

Publication Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

English Language, Literature, and Creative Writing

Keywords

Community;Counternarrative;Feminism;Medical language;Poetry;Women's health

Supervisor

Nicole Markotić

Abstract

My MA thesis, -opathy, presents a collection of poems and accompanying essay that confront the (mis)treatment women often face in the healthcare system. I present my poems in a range of experimental formats, interweaving the medical and the poetic, presenting the voices of women with various diverse backgrounds. These poems critique a healthcare discourse that frequently demeans and dismisses women’s experiences, while also placing frequently unheard voices to the fore. Experimental poems break open medical jargon, undermining medical language that objectifies the body; narrative poems put forth diverse and dynamic poetical protagonists who become the agent of their story, rather than an objectified body, and push back against the medical machinery they have been caught in through self-advocacy strategies and community support. Even amidst such heavy subject matter, humour finds itself laced throughout in witty comments, footnotes that expose absurd language, and (sometimes sarcastic) laughter. -opathy puts forth its critique of an institutional system by playing with (and in between) language and foregrounding the women in its pages as people rather than just patients.

Download

Share

COinS