Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Vergleichende Demokratieforschung und die Politischen Systeme Osteuropas

Graphic medicine is a subgenre of comics that combines comic studies, medical humanities, disability, and trauma studies. It primarily focuses on illness, trauma, and disability, often through graphic memoirs written by individuals with personal experiences of these conditions. In this talk, Prof. Layne explores how graphic medicine challenges philosopher Walter Benjamin's distinction between Erfahrung (observed experience) and Erlebnis (lived experience). Graphic medicine conveys lived experiences (Erlebnis) and uses a blend of images and text to represent illness and trauma in ways that traditional language cannot. This challenges ideas about stable identities, advocating for a more inclusive, less ableist understanding of human experience.