Sensing Someone Else's Pain: Ethical Historical Traces of Disciplined Interactions in Medical Care

Abstract

This paper highlights the ethical and moral dimensions of relational work and dignity in technoscientific spaces which are elusive in normative disciplinary practices. Using the lenses of ethical perceptions and embodied actions, we locate how microinteractions within physician-patient interactions during pain diagnosis and care are intertwined with interpersonal dignity, racialized emotions and historicized violence on Indigenous people. We discuss the implications of our work in light of dismantling normative views of disciplinary authenticity that underlie technoscience education.