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? 2020 Public Scholar Rachel Thomas encourages everyone to shed the weight of self-recrimination. Read more -
Public Scholar Rachel Thomas addresses the gendered dynamics of objectification and desire in the most recent excerpt of her graphic novel, Shrink. Read more -
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 -
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
Recent activity
- February 25 - Facilitated a workshop with 4th space on Life in Ink: How comics make medical and sociological research accessible
- March 31 - CBC Listen - Let’s Go with Sabrina Marandola: Graphic Novel “Shrink” looks at big topics around body image