Jamila Young
Instructor
Bioethics In Pop Culture
In this occasional series, we ask Arts & Sciences instructors to discuss how they engage students in the great questions of our time.
Q. How would you describe this class?
A. Many believe that this course is only for people who want to be physicians or nurses, but we designed this course for everyone. This course is really unique because we have inserted pop culture into this discussion. We watch many films, such as John Q, Contagion or Sleeping Beauty.
We look at different musical pieces in various genres, such as gospel songs or heavy metal. We also examine documentaries and explore social media. This course infuses bioethics into real life.
For example, if you haven’t seen the film Contagion, it is almost a mirror for what happened with COVID-19. We know what happened in that film in 2011 and how 11 years later, we’re living the reality of that film every day. We look at that situation and apply it to now, and this reality applies to our everyday lives.
Q. What makes this course appealing to students?
A. I ask students, “If something were to happen to you in the hospital, what are your wishes?” A lot of students will say, “Well, I don’t have any assets, so it doesn’t matter.” If, for example, your family agrees for you to be put on life support, bioethics matters a lot. We discuss things such as organ donations and heart transplants.
Once again, when you think about bioethics, people often think, “Oh, this is for doctors.” However, I was an English major, and I’m a lawyer by trade. I took my background and fused it with healthcare because I wanted people in the humanities and arts to enjoy a bioethics course.
We have fun and try to look at films and symbolism. Suppose you’re an English or Religious Studies major. In that case, you’re not behind the ball if you don’t understand the terms that STEM majors understand because humanities majors can relate their experiences to science. I find that process deeply interesting.
Q. Why is this course important?
A. No matter what, even if you don’t become a physician, doctor, or nurse, you still have to make your own medical decisions. It may not even be you, it may be a loved one in the hospital, and you have to decide for them.
Bioethics also has a lot of characteristics that are important to people in the humanities. We talk about race and bioethics, gynecology, reproductive bioethics. For example, post-mortem sperm retrieval. What happens if someone goes brain dead, but their family members want their sperm?
We also discuss religion and bioethics. We talk about transgender bioethics. We want to respect people’s pronouns and have a portion of the class that discusses that.
Q. How can students take this course into the workforce?
A. We discuss how careers intersect with bioethics and how humanities majors can get involved with bioethics without medical experience.
Just learning different terms can be helpful to students. We learn terms like autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and learn about justice. We learn about what those terms mean to a patient, but also what those terms mean to you personally.
We also discuss bias. We realize that everyone has biases and how to eliminate them, do better and work better with others.
Q. What got you interested in this subject?
A. My Dad is a physician, so I’ve always had that healthcare bug inside of me. I previously thought I wanted to be a doctor, but I did not like science, math, needles, or blood.
However, my Dad suggested that I become a health advocate. For me, I started my career with a healthcare interest while still being an English major.
Q. What is the most interesting or unusual assignment for this course?
A. We have the most amazing assignment is our final project. It’s almost like an un-project that allows students to do whatever they’d like. Students can make sculptures, write a paper, PowerPoint, or write a song.
The only rules are that it has to relate to a subject in the class, it must have an abstract attached, and it must be presentable. I hope someone does a song this year. The project was suggested and is being facilitated by my teaching assistant, Sheridawn Peden, who is a master’s student with the Religious Studies department.
– Interview by Emma Barrett (B.A., English, ’25). Photo by Raven Schley.