Thesis Advisor: Ghalya Saadawi

Thesis: Wayward Remedies: Pharmakological Medicine Beyond Bounds

June 2022

Abstract

Anatomy is strange and the body is fantastic. The limits of epistemologica legitimacy are too narrow to treat the ills of bodies entangled with an inflamed world. This project provides two theoretical reflections alongside first-person narratives. Reflection 1: Treatment as Transference explores biochemical relationality to advocate for care based on collaboration and dissemination. Reflection 2: Placebo, Parasite, Purity looks towards a pharmakological deconstruction of hierarchal divisions and biases in Western medical fields along with disenchanting experimental protocols set on limiting forms of care deemed beneficial. These theoretical reflections are paired with therapeutic accounts related to physiotherapy and radon therapy. Each of these stories bleeds the boundaries of medicinal convention and move towards an embrace of wayward remedy.

Author: Lacey Verhalen