ABSTRACT

The part of the MOOC that I enjoy the most is the asynchronous discussion that happens at the end of the first module entitled ‘The Heart of the Matter: A Matter of the Heart.’ Having spent most of this first week presenting different ideas of what the heart is, including perspectives from a cardiac surgeon, a poet, and a transplant recipient, I ask the innocent question: ‘what keeps you alive?’ It is a discussion that rolled on around different understandings of the heart as being more than just a pump and also, actually, the centre of our being, as Peter Anderson explained it, and the sense of temporality that he unpacked for us. Off we go, every time, on an extraordinarily deep and very meaningful series of reflections, from a hugely diverse group of people from all over the world. The medical student from Mexico responds to the retired nurse in New Zealand, and an African researcher gently chides the cynic from the UK. And it rolls on sometimes for weeks after the main cohort of participants has left that week behind and got on to other topics. Somehow this question, partly existential, partly academic, partly clarifying assumptions, hooks people into a very rich discussion. I’ve reflected a lot on that discussion. I think it exemplifies what we are trying to do in the medical humanities.