About
Dr Andrew Godfrey-Meers is a recently completed PhD researcher in English and Comic Studies at the University of Dundee, and was the principal organiser of the 7th International Comics & Medicine conference (theme Stages & Pages) in Dundee in 2016. His research focuses on representations of disability, illness, and medical treatment in the interdisciplinary field and genre of Graphic Medicine. Using ritual, myth, and quest as theoretical tools he explores the tension between transformative and subversive representations of illness and disability in works of Graphic Medicine as well as in the field itself-particularly its potential reinforcement of individualistic medical models.
He was a monthly contributor to the Columbia University’s health humanities blog Synapsis between 2017 and 2018, has peer-reviewed articles for the Journal of Comics and Graphic Novels, and was the postgraduate secretary for the humanities between 2012 and 2013, as well as being on the organising committee for the 2013 postgraduate humanities conference.
He has previously self-published comics about his experiences with the chronic illness Cystic Fibrosis, as well as collaborative comics on mental health with Emma Jeramie, under the name Sicker Than Thou.
His current research interests include but are not limited to:
- Examining the limitations of empathy in Graphic Medicine and the Medical Humanities (particularly from a disability perspective)
- Examining the link between his lived experience of Cystic Fibrosis and wider issues and concepts from disability studies and disability activism
Publications
Articles/Papers/Blog Posts
Godfrey, A. “‘For your own good’: Health as moral value and political weapon.” (2018)
Synapsis,
https://medicalhealthhumanities.com/2018/04/16/for-your-own-good-health-as-moral-value-and-political-weapon/.
Godfrey, A. “The Limits of Empathy (Part Two: Empathetic Voyeurism, Selfishness, and Inaction).” (2018)
Synapsis,
https://medicalhealthhumanities.com/2018/03/15/the-limits-of-empathy-part-two-empathetic-voyeurism-selfishness-and-inaction/
Godfrey, A. “The Limits of Empathy (Part One: Selective Empathy).” (2018)
Synapsis, https://medicalhealthhumanities.com/2018/02/16/the-limits-of-empathy-part-one-selective-empathy/
Godfrey, A. “My Graphic Medicine Journey (Part Three)”. (2017)
Synapsis, https://medicalhealthhumanities.com/2017/12/09/my-graphic-medicine-journey-part-three/
Godfrey, A. “My Graphic Medicine Journey (Part Two)”. (2017)
Synapsis,
https://medicalhealthhumanities.com/2017/11/06/my-graphic-medicine-journey-part-two/
Godfrey, A. “My Graphic Medicine Journey (Part One)”. (2017)
Synapsis,
https://medicalhealthhumanities.com/2017/10/09/my-graphic-medicine-journey-part-one/
Reviews
Godfrey-Meers A., (2021) “A/effective Bodies: A Review of Eszter Szép’s Comics and The Body: Drawing, Reading, and Vulnerability (2020)”, The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship 11(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/cg.4796
Godfrey, A. 2018. “Review: Anne Whitehead’s
Medicine & Empathy in Contemporary British Literature: An Intervention in Medical Humanities.” Synapsis,
https://medicalhealthhumanities.com/2018/06/18/review-anne-whiteheads-medicine-empathy-in-contemporary-british-literature-an-intervention-in-medical-humanities/
Godfrey, A. 2018. “On the front line: A review of Rachel Clarke’s ‘Your Life in My Hands’ & Adam Kay’s ‘This is Going to Hurt'”
. Synapsis, https://medicalhealthhumanities.com/2018/01/19/on-the-front-line-a-review-of-rachel-clarkes-your-life-in-my-hands-adam-kays-this-is-going-to-hurt/
Godfrey A., (2017) “The Ethical Zombie: A Review of The Walking Med: Zombies and The Medical Image”, The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship 7(0), p.11. doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/cg.112
Book Chapters
Godfrey-Meers, A. ‘Unraveling the Super-Crip: Superheros as Subversion, a Personal Essay in Comic Form’ In Smith, S.T. & Alaniz, J (eds)
Uncanny Bodies: Ability and Disability in Superhero Comics. (University Park: Penn State University Press, 2019)
Talks/Conference Presentations
“Cripping empathy in Graphic Medicine” pre-recorded video for Graphic Medicine UnConvention, Sunday the 15th of August
“Individualising myths and narratives in the field and genre of Graphic Medicine””. Talk as part of pre-recorded panel “Cripping Graphic Medicine” at Comic Studies Society, online conference Re/Building Community, Saturday the 7th of August
“Artist and Publisher Roundtable” at Performing and Picturing Patienthood: Exploring Graphic Illness Narratives, London College of Communication, April 4th 2019
‘Graphic Medicine as Myth and Ritual’ at Performing and Picturing Patienthood: Exploring Graphic Illness Narratives, London College of Communication April 5th 2019
Teaching
Annual Graphic Medicine seminar and comics creation workshop with medical illustration Master’s Students, University of Dundee 2016-2019
Seminar on illness and comics, MLitt Comic Stuides, 2016
Upcoming Papers
“Cripping empathy in Graphic Medicine” in special issue of Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies edited by Dorothee Marx and Gesine Wegner, 2022.
Upcoming reviews
A review of Harriet Cooper’s
Critical Disability Studies and the Disabled Child: Unstable Distinctions for
The Polyphony, September 2021.
