Hello!
Amy Harbourne
Department of Writing Studies
University of Minnesota
My Academic and Professional Identity
I received my BA from Texas A&M University (2020), and my MA from Carnegie Mellon University (2022). I am currently a PhD student at University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities in the Department of Writing Studies.
I approach my work with enthusiasm and curiosity. My passion goes beyond enjoying the learning experience. I am dedicated to translating my academic experiences and tenacity to actionable goals that have the capacity to benefit systemically disenfranchised communities.
Currently, my research focuses on a rhetorical analysis of conversations in and out of medical examination rooms. This research involves methodologies such as conversation and discourse analysis, ethnographic data collection, and an emphasis on racial and gendered histories of Medicine. I place special emphasis on including feminist and anti-racist understandings of how the experiences of patients in examination rooms is affected by the sociocultural history and institutional practices of medicine.
About Me
I'm from Brownsville, Texas, a small town on the Mexican-American border. I have four cats and my husband is a professor of psychology. My interest in the Rhetoric of Medicine comes from my personal experiences in and out of clinics and hospitals throughout my childhood and present. My time at Texas A&M led me to the fascinating narratives and research opportunities in Rhetoric. At Carnegie Mellon University I was equipped with the tools and expertise of methodology and foundations of research, and as I continue my academic and professional journey at U of Minnesota I hope to encourage others to take an interest in Medical communications that may benefit patients.
My favorite Books
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Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo
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The Librarian of Auschwitz
by Antonio G. Iturbe, Lilit Thwaites (Translation)
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The Well of Lonliness by Radclyffe Hall
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Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell
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Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Acknowledgements
The University of Minnesota stands on Miní Sóta Makhóčhe, the homelands of the Dakhóta Oyáte. This sovereignty, this place, and this water is sacred.
I will always stand in solidarity to efforts worldwide for reclaiming land, language, and power.
Support Ukraine
Since I was young, my parents hosted exchange students. One of those students was Diana; a Russian-Ukrainian high schooler who became my sister for life.
Now, she wants nothing more than to immigrate to America and leave behind the brutalism that all Ukrainians who live in the epicenter of Russian violence: Moscow.
Please consider donating what you can so we can save up for her legal fees, travel, and immigration to a safer life.