April 24, 2024 (Zoom): Cross-Pollinations
Join the League of Canadian Poets, the Health Arts Research Centre, and the Canadian Association for Health Humanities for the next iteration of the Cross-Pollinations Virtual Rounds Series.
April 24, 2024 | 3pm PT/6pm ET
The Wednesday, April 24, 2024 Cross-Pollinations event will be on the intersection of fatness/fatphobia and race/racism in medicine. The event will feature poet Namitha Rathinappillai and PhD candidate Ramanpreet Annie Bahra, both of whom have lived experience of the theme. While Namitha will explore the theme through her poetry, Ramanpreet will present some of her critical research on fat, racialized bodies and embodiment. Ultimately, both speakers will challenge how fat, racialized (especially South Asian) patients are treated in medicine.
This event will address weight bias, anti-fatness, eating disorders, as well as medical and police violence. Please feel free to engage in whatever way is best for you e.g. video off, stepping away as needed, or even leaving the event early.
Namitha Rathinappillai (she/they) is a fat, queer, disabled, Tamil published spoken word poet, organizer, and workshop facilitator. They have been creating, performing, commissioning, and competing as a poet, locally and nationally, since 2018. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice, and a Masters of Arts in Sociology. They are currently based in Toronto, and was the first female and youngest director of Ottawa’s Urban Legends Poetry Collective (ULPC). You can find more at namitharathinappillai.com.
Ramanpreet Annie Bahra (she/her), is a fat, Panjabi-Indian, femme PhD candidate in the Sociology department at York University, Canada. Her research concentrates on social theory, fat studies, disability studies, and affect studies. Her research interests are centered around building intersectional analyses of fat body and embodiment with the use of research-creation methodology (i.e., art, somatic movement). Using critical fat and disability praxis she examines what fat and disabled em(body)ment means and how access to health/care is limited for those in the South Asian diaspora.
Recordings from past events can be viewed on YouTube.