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Public scholars

Rachel Thomas

Using art as a dissemination method, I’m trying to make highly academic studies on obesity accessible and interesting to the general public.

Rachel is a doctoral candidate at Concordia’s Centre for the Interdisciplinary Studies of Society and Culture (CISSC). Her research blurs the boundaries between traditional media, technology and bio-fabrication, centred around the medicalized body with specific focus on women's health. Using heuristic research strategies, she seeks to open discourses between the objective medical gaze and the subjective patient experience. Her current work is a graphic novel exploring the impact of medical and social gazes on obese women as a means to promote accessibility of new research outside of the academic sphere.

Discipline

Humanities (Medical Sociology, Medical History, Fine Arts)

Languages

English, French

Supervisors

Ingrid Bachman , Genevieve Rail, Charlotte Usselman

Rachel Thomas: Using graphic novels to disseminate academic studies to the general public

Rachel Thomas' blog posts

  • Gained weight during the pandemic? You're not alone.
    Posted on May 4, 2021 | By Rachel Thomas
    Gained weight during the pandemic? 2020 Public Scholar Rachel Thomas encourages everyone to shed the weight of self-recrimination. Read more
  • Male gaze
    Posted on March 11, 2021 | By Rachel Thomas
    Public Scholar Rachel Thomas addresses the gendered dynamics of objectification and desire in the most recent excerpt of her graphic novel, Shrink. Read more
  • War on Obesity
    Posted on September 17, 2020 | By Rachel Thomas
    A war has been raging on the obesity epidemic, but what does it really mean? In this chapter from forthcoming graphic novel Shrink, PhD candidate Rachel Thomas dives into how the fat body became problematized in medicine and culture. Read more
  • Excerpt: "Fear"
    Posted on September 1, 2020 | By Rachel Thomas
    In a chapter excerpt from her upcoming graphic novel, Shrink, Public Scholar Rachel Thomas explores concepts of the female body, weight and self-identity. Read more

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