A Black Fetus? Examining Social Justice in Medical Illustrations in Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) Pedagogical Materials

ABSTRACT

Although the field of illustration is a major topic in technical and professional communication (TPC), social justice regarding medical illustrations is yet to be investigated. Drawing from an analysis of TPC journals, program websites, textbooks, and syllabi, this study explores how TPC could advance a social justice view on medical illustration, especially in the textbooks that we use in teaching medical and science writing courses. Not only did we find that very few medical and science writing textbooks included illustrations, but a significant number of illustrations were white. We suggest intentionality in the choice of pedagogical materials, overt discussion of social justice in the curriculum, and critical borrowing of pedagogical materials.

KEYWORDS:

• Advocacy
• critique
• design justice
• diversity
• hidden curriculum
• inclusion
• textbooks

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

G. Edzordzi Agbozo

G. Edzordzi Agbozo is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He researches the complex dimensions of technology development and localization; medical and science communication, critical discourse analysis, social justice, and international/intercultural technical communication. He co-edited Communicative Perspectives on COVID-19 in Ghana: At the Intersection of Culture, Science, Religion and Politics (Routledge, 2024) and Communication and Electoral Politics in Ghana: Interrogating Transnational Technology, Discourse, and Multimodality (Palgrave Macmillan 2024). His articles have appeared in Technical Communication Quarterly, Technical Communication, Technical Communication & Social Justice, Composition Studies, Programmatic Perspectives, and IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.

Isidore K. Dorpenyo

Isidore K. Dorpenyo is a tenured Associate Professor of English at George Mason University. His research focuses on election technology, science and technology, international/intercultural technical communication, social justice, and localization. He is the author of the book: User-localization Strategies in the Face of Technological Breakdown: Biometric in Ghana’s Elections. Dr. Dorpenyo, has been named the 2024 winner of the Ken Rainey Award for Distinguished Research. Also, his co-authored article is the winner of the 2023 CCCC Technical and Scientific Communication Award for Best Article on Pedagogy or Curriculum in Technical and Scientific Communication. He has published in Technical Communication Quarterly, the Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Technical Communication, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, Programmatic Perspectives, and the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication.

Godwin Y. Agboka

Godwin Y. Agboka is professor of technical and professional communication (TPC) at the University of Houston-Downtown, where he teaches courses in TPC. His research interests include intercultural communication, social justice, human rights, medical and science communication, legal writing, and research methodologies. His publications have appeared in Technical Communication Quarterly, Technical Communication, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, Connexions, Technical Communication & Social Justice, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, and in books. He has also co-edited several book collections and journal special issues, all on themes of social justice.