Amanda Cannella

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
autoethnography; autotheory; biomedicalization; biopolitics; the body; care politics; comics; chronic illness; chronic pain; creative nonfiction; disability theory; drawn dissertations; ethics; graphic literature; graphic medicine; health humanities; illness narratives; pedagogy; sick lit; rhetoric analysis.

CURRENT RESEARCH:
My doctoral research analyzes graphic illness narratives and narrative medical models as unwitting technologies of biomedicine. My body of scholarly-creative work takes as its subject matter the experience of chronic pain, and in so doing, it contests the biomedical representation and clinical “care” of those who are in pain.

PUBLICATIONS:
– “The Patient’s Game.” Health Professions and Comics: An Interprofessional Guide to Graphic Medicine. With Gianna Paniagua. Edited by Brian Callender and Kathryn West, Penn State UP, forthcoming.  
– “Moments of Metagnosis: Illness Narratives in Contemporary Pathographic Memoirs.” Comics and Life: Illustration, Intersections, and Insights. Edited by Abhilasha Gusain, Routledge, forthcoming.

CONFERENCES:
– “Practically Magic: Playing Through the Pain in the Third Space.” Graphic Medicine Conference, Athlone, Ireland, 16–18 July 2024.
– “The Neglected Curriculum of Chronic Pain: Illness Narratives as Graphic Media.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English, York University, Toronto, ON. May 2023.
– “Ecocriticism and Graphic Medicine Prioritizing Crip Futurities.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English, McGill University, Montreal, QC. June 2024. (Conference cancelled)

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE:
– Research Assistant (for Lisa Boucher, Department of Gender & Social Justice), “Promising Outcomes in Troubling Times: Neoliberal Restructuring and Organizational Resilience,” SSHRC Project, Trent University
– Workshop Facilitator (for Nicole Dalmer, Postdoctoral Fellow), “Learning About Your Digital Rights in the Digital Age: A Hands-on Workshop Series for Older Adults in Peterborough,” SSHRC Project, Trent University

TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
– Co-instructor, ENGL2900 Literature of the Self: Illness Narratives. Carleton University, with Dr. Stuart J. Murray. Fall 2024.

SERVICE:
– Co-Founder, Carleton Book Arts Society, Carleton University, 2023
Social Media Co-Ordinator, 2024-2025
Vice President Finance, 2023-2024
– Student Member, Disability Justice and Crip Culture Collaboratory, Carleton University
Co-Chair, Research Committee 2023-2024

AWARDS:
– Beattie-Haines Graduate Scholarship, Carleton University (2022)
– Gordon J. Wood Graduate Scholarship, Carleton University (2022)
– Trent University Public Texts Graduate Prize, Trent University (2022)
– Roebuck Street Mural Artist Honorarium, Town of Whitby (2022)
– Curriculum of Merit Award in Visual Art, Queen’s University (2010)