I'm getting good at this

Hopefully this will be my last long distance research trip. On the one hand I love them - being totally immersed in my work and sometimes being able to site-see (depending on archive hours - this trip - not so much, since the archives are open 9-9) - on the other they are isolating and stressful (what if I don't get everything done! I must see all the things!). One thing though, I'm getting really good at packing for them:







- Carry-on bag that can fit the narrow way into an overhead bin (with detachable satchel for carrying my research supplies once I get to my destination, which holds my netbook, power supply, wallet, mp3 player, phone, earplugs*, and kindle)
- Clothing: research clothes (interchangeable, layered, and adorbs), workout clothes (yoga and running), and comfortable but compact shoes.
- Yoga mat (yes, believe it or not, there is a travel yoga mat in there)
- Toiletries (I never stress about these - I can always buy stuff when I get there and leave it behind - much better than worrying about ounces and baggies)
- Jewelry (one set that works with all outfits)
- Bag of electronics (the red and black striped one): camera, batteries, battery charger, memory cards, card reader, laptop lock, headphones, mic. (next to my netbook, the most essential part of research)
- Water Bottle
- Reusable coffee mug
- Not pictured: running shoes and heavy sweatshirt - largest items worn for actual flight rather than taking up room in suitcase.

This archives (Sallie Bingham - Look, it's me!) has a great locker room and reading room, so I can easily access my things without bringing too much into the reading room and having a place to store them when I take breaks (really great food options on the Duke campus, by the way). Like most archives, you are only allowed your computer, camera, pencil, and paper in the actual reading room.


*I cannot stress enough how important ear plugs are - especially on take off and landing when you are not allowed to use electronic devices to block out the noise of screaming children, chatty teenagers, or lonely old women.

The Banality of Evil.

Yesterday, I took a break from researching to go to a talk that sounded interesting, “Slave Medicine and the Banality of Evil.”

I have to say, I don't usually find historical talks given by physicians that interesting, but this was not only fascinating, but it also gave me some really great ideas about teaching race and medicine in the future.

A brief summary of the talk: Starting with a physician's bill, Halperin discussed the role of doctors in slavery - from ship physicians who got paid more if slaves arrived here alive and healthy, to plantation physicians who were kept on retainer by slave owners to treat their slaves. He then transitioned to the issue of the "banality of evil," a term you are probably familiar with from Hannah Arendt and the Nuremberg Trial. Arendt's point is that while we often ascribe evil to sociopaths (like Hitler), the greatest evil is when ordinary people participate in evil because they think it is normal. In regards to physicians who treated slaves, they partipated in the perpetuation of a system that they saw, perhaps more than any other class of persons, how evil it was and still considered themselves objective, above politics, and "doing no harm."

When I teach this subject the go-to topic is the Tuskeegee Syphillis Study - we try to break student's (especially pre-med students') belief that it was an isolated incident (in fact, it is *very* represenative of medicine at the time) and that physicians and medicine reflect the society they live in. The analogy to Halperin's talk seemed obvious at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized his example was so much more powerful - his physicians wanted their patients to live and be healthy - the Tuskeegee physicians wanted to bring their patients to autopsy.

It's easy for students to black box the Nazis or Tuskeegee as an exception carried out by evil people, but physicians who treated slaves? They actually gave their patients the best care they could (it was in their financial best interest to do so) - in order to send those slaves back to work...