The objective of this thesis is to show that a study of medical images produced by British artists in the eighteenth century can contribute to the knowledge of the social history of medicine of the period, and to show that, by careful analysis of the medical images portrayed, some insight may be obtained into the meaning of works of art in which such images might otherwise be dismissed as merely irrelevant or gratuitous details. The thesis is cast In two main sections preceded by an introductory chapter which provides some background information with regard to the development of medical services in England and sets the scene from which literary and graphic artists drew their images, Works of the artist William Hogarth form the basis of the first section, The artist made extensive and knowing reference to medical imagery in many of his works, some of which are described and interpreted with due regard to the conventions employed, to the world around him, to literary works of his contemporaries and, where appropriate, to contemporary medical literature, Independent control with regard to the validity of the medical images and practices portrayed is provided where descriptions of such practices and Images correspond with each other. It is contended that such integration of written and visual sources of medical Imagery, in an empirical approach, enhances the information to be gained from either source viewed separately. Although mainly satirical in nature, it is argued that the images must have a foundation of truth and therefore deserve to be examined closely so that the truth of the situation portrayed may be revealed. The second section discusses the use of medical images from the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, mainly through the works of Thomas Rowlandson, although works of other artists such as James Gillray and George Cruikshank are included. Through their works information may be gleaned about a range of contemporary medical issues including lay perceptions of disease, pain and death, fashions in disease and treatment and the impact that advancing scientific knowledge had upon medical treatment and upon the practitioners involved. In addition, certain contemporary philosophical ideas are highlighted which have some bearing upon contemporary popular and medical opinion. The nature and function of medical images are discussed throughout the thesis. They are read, not as straightforward documents, but within a framework of recognisable practices. Medical and artistic changes took place throughout the century and the effects of some of these changes are commented upon during the course of the thesis, which concludes by assessing the arguments put forward in both sections and indicates how the two disciplines of the History of Art and the social History of Medicine can be bridged or annexed with benefit to both.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Art History, December 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Art definitions and movements are changing just as the social paradigms they spring from. This exploration looked at paradigms in art of the past that have become the foundation for movements today. Currently the transformative powers art has to offer have been recognized. Colleges are beginning to train a major and a career. The literature review explored what role transformative art has played in artists' lives and looked at its uses in education. Conceptual art goes beyond the aesthetics of art and touches the mind and heart. I began to explore this kind of art in the nearby galleries. I found a theme I could be passionate about and began to develop it visually. For my project, I developed transformative art. Often students can master a media and create an image with it. But, unless they are told what to create, their craftsmanship skills lie mute. They need guidance to realize their visual voices. As I researched the subject matter of my show, I challenged my students in my high school art classes to look past technique and create some conceptual art of their own.

This thesis endeavours to explore, describe and portray the author's attempt to work with the people of Vanuatu, a small island nation in the South Pacific, establishing a preventative eye care project. The goal of this study is to offer a contribution to the understanding of cross-cultural health work in Vanuatu. / thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, [2000]

This thesis endeavours to explore, describe and portray the author's attempt to work with the people of Vanuatu, a small island nation in the South Pacific, establishing a preventative eye care project. The goal of this study is to offer a contribution to the understanding of cross-cultural health work in Vanuatu. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, [2000]

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-96).

This research project investigates the relationship between pain and the practices of explaining and narrating it to others. Current scholarship argues that the representation of suffering became, during the Imperial period, an increasingly effective and popular strategy for cultivating authority and that this explains the success of Christian culture’s representation of itself as a community of sufferers. One criticism of this approach is that the experience of pain has often been assumed, rather than analysed. Here, I investigate the nature of pain by attending to its intimate relationship with language; pain was connected to the strategies used to communicate that experience to others. I will show that writers throughout the Imperial period were concerned with questions about how to communicate pain and how that act of communication shaped, managed, and alleviated the experience. I investigate this culture along three axes. Part 1, ‘The Sublime Representation of Pain’, investigates the way different authors thought about the capacity of sublime language and rhetorical techniques such as enargeia to effectively communicate pain. I argue that for writers such as Longinus, the sublime offers an opportunity to replicate the traumatic experience of the pain sufferer in the audience or listener—pain is narrated to the audience through a traumatic communicative mode. Contrarily, I show how authors such as Plutarch and Galen were particularly concerned to desublimate the representation of pain, reducing the affective power of images of pain by promoting the audience’s conscious engagement with the text or representational medium. Part 2, ‘Medical Narratives’, examines a conflict between Galen and Aristides over the way language and narrative signified or referred to painful experiences. I show how both writers negotiate the way pain destroys and transcends ordered, structured, narrative by engaging in a process of narrative translation. I will illuminate the difference between scientific, diagnostic narratives which explain and rationalise pain experiences (in the case of Galen) and those which attempt to give witness to the nebulous, ineffable qualities of pain. In Part 3, ‘Narrating Cures’ I investigate ancient practices of psychotherapy. I show how various philosophical consolations were underpinned by an understanding of the power of pain to continually return and overwhelm the individual. I show further that the Greek romances engage in a type of talking cure: the novels use narration and story-telling to help assert the protagonists’ distance from their past traumatic experiences and, thus, allow the individual to overcome their painful past.