PRESENTERS:  Brian Deyo (Faculty) and Gabriela Herrera (student)

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed inequities across a range of U.S. institutions, including the healthcare industry. Given that society’s most vulnerable have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, it is crucial to examine the ways that colonialist epistemologies and class ideology continue to inform the theory and practice of western medicine in the U.S. Furthermore, the pandemic has revealed how colonialist capitalism has created environmental conditions that, as many experts agree, will increase the probability of more – and possibly more deadly – outbreaks of infectious disease. This panel will provide a forum to discuss recent scholarship in the interdisciplinary medical-environmental humanities, which will begin with a 10-minute dialogue between a GVSU student and faculty member. The dialogue will commence by highlighting their work together on an independent study that works toward imagining critical, informed, and democratic solutions to structural inequities in U.S. society and culture. After this ten-minute exchange of ideas, the two will ask the audience to write short responses to a questionnaire, which will serve as an invitation to join the conversation. (Panel)