Imag(in)ing the Invisible

Authors

  • Elizabeth S. Cameron Dalhousie University

Keywords:

biomedicine, chronic illness, digital diagnosis, endometriosis, futurity, medical imaging technologies

Abstract

This commentary politicizes the relational-technical economy of biomedicine and the future it forecasts for feminized bodies with chronic illnesses. As digital medical imaging technologies develop, visualizations of disease are becoming more sophisticated. I begin by critically considering the implications this has for feminized bodies with chronic illnesses through the example of endometriosis, a common chronic pain disease that is not well understood within the biomedical paradigm. Enhanced imaging technologies promise to illuminate previously-unknowable aspects of disease pathophysiology, but what future is such technological progress enabling, and for whom? Through a critical intersectional lens, it becomes evident that the biomedical-technological future imag(in)es particular bodies, in particular places, and towards particular, but not unfamiliar ends. Enhancing abilities to visualize disease through digital technologies within a biomedical paradigm does not require us to look differently, which may be precisely what is needed. Thus, drawing theoretically on the work of bell hooks as well as critical feminist disability studies scholarship, I kindle the fire of a critical intersectional politic that transforms biomedical-technological ways of seeing the feminized body with chronic illness. Such a politic not only offers the possibility to imagine alternate futurities, but also contributes to their tangible realization.

Author Biography

  • Elizabeth S. Cameron, Dalhousie University

    Elizabeth S. Cameron is a PhD student in Sociology at Dalhousie University’s Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, where she is expanding upon her previous research. In 2024, Elizabeth graduated from the Queen’s University Master of Arts program in Sociology, where she completed a critical scoping review of medical literature about suspected endometriosis as a clinical diagnostic category under the supervision of Dr. Annette Burfoot. Elizabeth’s research has been supported by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) at the master’s as well as doctoral level. She also held a Queen’s University Public Scholarship Fellowship (2023-24), within which she created the website suspectedendo.com to translate and disseminate her research directly to public audiences, particularly people with suspected endometriosis and those involved in their care. During the final year of her undergraduate Sociology degree at the University of Calgary (where she graduated with Distinction), Elizabeth co-produced and edited the film Dorothy Smith: Discovering a Sociology for People, which has been shared widely through conference presentations as well as university course syllabi. She also has a diploma in Journalism (Photojournalism concentration, Honours) from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), and previously worked as a multimedia journalist.

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Published

2025-03-19

Issue

Vol. 46 No. 1 (2025): Ruptures, Resistance, Reclamation: Transnational Feminism in a Digital Age

Section

Reflections and Commentary

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Copyright (c) 2025 Elizabeth S. Cameron

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