Handbook of Popular Culture and Biomedicine

This handbook explores the ways biomedicine and pop culture interact while simultaneously introducing the reader with the tools and ideas behind this new field of inquiry. From comic books to health professionals, from art to genetics, from sci-fi to medical education, from TV series to ethics, it offers an entry point to an exciting and central aspect of contemporary culture: how and what we learn about (and from) scientific knowledge and its representation in pop culture. Divided into three sections, one introducing the basic concepts and approaches to the topic from a variety of disciplines, the second applying the theories and methods in specific case studies, and lastly a chapter concerned with larger social and historical trends of the use of biomedical knowledge in popular culture, the handbook surveys the basics, the micro, and the macro aspects of this interaction between specialized knowledge and cultural production. Presenting over twenty-five original articles from international scholars established over a variety of fields, this handbook introduces the topic of pop culture and biomedicine to both new and mature researchers alike. The articles, all complete with a rich source of further references, are aimed at being the most complete entry point to researchers and academic educators interested in this somewhat unexplored field of culture and biomedicine.