Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Winter 2018

  • Impostor syndrome: Richard Selzer’s life of doubt

    Mahala StriplingFort Worth, Texas, United States “I am called by the name of Chekhov. Each time I hear it, I blush and cringe. He had true genius; I just do the best I can. There is an enormous difference. I do believe it is important not to become enamored of oneself, or to have one’s…

  • The journey into the blue

    Annette TuffsHeidelberg, Germany “And when I came back – I did not return. You are never the same person you were, when you left.” Thus wrote Alfred Döblin (1878–1957) in 1946, in the newspaper Badische Zeitung in Freiburg,1 a few months after ending his forced absence of twelve years in France and California. The German…

  • Family encounters with pathogens 100 years apart

    Meredith WrightNew York City, New York, United States After my mother died, I became obsessed with preserving family memories and learning as many stories as I could, with the knowledge that most were likely already lost along with her. While sorting through her desk for family memorabilia I came across my great-grandmother’s unpublished memoir. I…

  • Death and dignity – a lesson learned from my father

    Dhastagir SheriffChennai, Tennessee, India I was working as a professor of biochemistry and as the vice-principal of faculty at the Ambedkar Medical College in Bangalore. It was a welcome change after working in Libya for ten years and I was bubbling with energy and ambition to serve the cause of education. I felt that a…

  • Healing in post-genocide Rwanda

    Vigneshwar SubramanianNivetha SubramanianCleveland, Ohio, United States In April 1994, one of the largest genocides since the Holocaust erupted in Rwanda as the Hutu ethnic majority conducted a targeted slaughter of the Tutsi people.1 In a span of just over 100 days, over 800,000 people were killed.2 Infectious diseases such as HIV ran rampant, a consequence…

  • Welcome another Earth-dweller

    Ndembou C. Jean-LouisBafut, Cameroon “Doctor, we have a thirty-eight-year-old lady, recently injured, having difficulties bearing down. And her baby’s heart rate is not the best,” a harried sounding nurse gushed over the phone. I groaned inwardly and reassured her I would arrive at the maternity ward in about ten minutes. I instructed her to continue…

  • “Marvailous Cures”: Sympathetic medicine connecting Europe and China

    Richard de GrijsSydney, AustraliaDaniel VuillerminBeijing, China In Renaissance Europe the concept of curing illnesses at a distance did not seem as outlandish as it would today. A newfound interest in classical remedies at a time when new plants were being found in the Americas and Asia ushered in an interest in pharmacological experimentation but also…

  • The hidden history of Lomidine

    Sophia NewmanChicago, Illinois, United States The shot against sleeping sickness brought me so many problemsThe shot against sleeping sickness hurt me so…They pricked me in the back…And still, they want to send me to draw waterIf I try to slow my stepThe policeman hits me on the head with a stick.1 This song, originally sung…

  • A story of the oppressed

    Donia KhafagaCairo, Egypt Writers often use their novels as a social commentary to criticize a certain cultural context and advocate for change. Today women are still trying to attain equality and freedom. In many Arab countries, men are endowed with freedom and opportunities while women remain silenced and marginalized. One of the most notable authors…

  • Trauma vicariously: a writer’s madness

    Kirsten FoggToronto, Ontario, Canada It started with a lump in my throat. Actually, it started before that. Last year when I embarked on a project gathering stories of belonging, I tried to be witty and philosophical by quoting author Ben Okri. “Listening,” Okri had said in an ABC radio interview, “is quite close to suffering.”…