Jarrel De Matas is a PhD candidate who has recently accepted a tenure-track faculty position teaching literature at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Department of Bioethics and Health Humanities. He plans to defend his dissertation in April. For more information, visit his website.
Can you provide an overview of your research?
My research looks at redefining science to include what was previously left out — places and people that were previously left out. Science, as we've come to understand it, whether based on experimentation, rigor, logic — we know it, right? What I'm looking at in my dissertation is a cultural form of science. Conventional science might have derived meaning through experimentation and rigor. I'm looking at how cultural science is informed by experience, storytelling, and narratives of both places and people. I look specifically at the Caribbean to do that.
I'm also reading aspects of cultural science through science fiction because those are the two things that I really lean on in my research: Caribbean scholarship as well as science fiction. Being from Trinidad and Tobago, naturally I would write what I know. And I want to explore how these things play out, how knowledge is formed throughout the Caribbean.
Why do you think it's important to approach science and health from a humanities perspective?
Health, medicine, and science are very good at diagnosing things, and they’re good at prescribing things. That's pretty much how doctors work, right? They ask you some questions, provide a diagnosis based on that, and then prescribe the best medication.
What I think humanities can offer health, medicine, and science is a much broader purview of everything that a person brings to that doctor's office. Everything that you cannot ask from a checkbox. For example, your cultural knowledge about particular aspects of medicine that might be considered alternative. Also the history of how medicine might have developed in particular cultures: spiritual aspects of healing and Indigenous aspects of healing. Those kinds of things that may be left out.
As much as health is physiological, it’s also cultural, social, environmental, personal, and also deeply political. That's what humanities can offer. Taking that bird’s eye view of help as this interconnected thing can then address problems that might not be easily prescribable such as inequality, discrimination, and stigmatization.
How did you get interested in health humanities?
I was talking to a writer called Karen Lord from Barbados. She studied physics and moved into sociology. Lord’s story, called “The Plague Doctors” was published in 2020 and is about people in a small, tropical island dealing with a pandemic. Right now, with COVID-19 on our shoulders, we can see the overlap. But when I was talking to her she actually said that she was writing it before the pandemic actually happened.
That was a really important moment for me, because I realized it’s not just science fiction. I mean, science fiction writers write so much that they become almost prophetic because, if you write enough, you might stumble onto things that eventually happen. But beyond that, what I found really interesting was the aspects of the story that Karen Lord was allowing us to understand — not just this science fiction, but rather how a small community might solve their own problems and not have to rely on external forces. Nevertheless, those external forces still deal on the small island.
So having that conversation was a turning point for me. I realized how we can think about health and medicine deeply. And if we can think about that deeply, then we can begin to find solutions in either empowering communities, in this case of the story, or just thinking about health as not just physiological. And in that way we can become more inclusive in how we approach a future of help that is accessible but also intelligible for as many people as possible.
What are your future plans?
I accepted an offer to teach literature at the University of Texas Medical Branch. It's a non-traditional faculty job in terms of that it's not in an English department, but rather it's a department of bioethics and health humanities. I'm going to be alongside professors who aren’t English professors. So that is all going to be new for me. But I'm looking forward to it because I will be either one of two, or the only one providing English courses. That is a challenge that I'm excited about because it gives me freedom, but it is also a lot of responsibility. I'm looking forward to that.
It really fell in line with where I've been moving, which is health humanities which has been around for quite some time, but I feel there's a resurgence happening. For many reasons, they moved away from the word “medical” and moved towards “health,” which I thought was for their benefit. Because when we're thinking about health expansively, even though it has been around some time and has gone through some changes, I feel it's gathering more steam, and what I also see is that universities are increasingly turning towards providing health humanities courses. I feel really good and excited to be part of this.
Do you have any favorite accomplishments or memories of your time as a grad student at UMass Amherst?
In my first semester, I did this course with Professor Jane Degenhardt, and it was so fascinating because we were looking at the post-human. It was the human, post-human, and race. And that was such an amazing moment for me, because it was my first semester, and that really expanded my knowledge. I always knew I wanted to do science fiction and the Caribbean, but I was never really sure how I would bring those two together, and that course allowed me to see a connection between how Caribbean people might be able to use science and health and medicine. So that was a really good moment for me, and also taking other courses. Professor David Toomey's course in science and literature was also really influential for me.
Most recently, I compiled a book, a collection of my articles, because I also really enjoy journalism. Specifically, op-ed writing because it allows me to put my thoughts on the page in a way that writing this dissertation would not have. I'm really proud of that because I could hold something tangible, and I'm looking forward to my dissertation, of course. But this book was also a really good moment.
Also, just being around really supportive faculty, like my dissertation committee, has been spectacular. They've always been kind, and they've always been very generous with their time. I'm really appreciative for that support.
Do you have a favorite class that you've taught?
The one I'm teaching right now, which is English 132: Gender, Sexuality, Literature & Culture. I teach that through a lens of science fiction and health. It's always like a bit of a learning curve for the students, because the parameters are specific and also very broad. Eventually, though, they really come to appreciate it because, 1) science fiction and 2) we're approaching aspects of gender and sexuality specifically from angles of science and medicine. We're also able to have conversations about gender and sexuality in a way that they haven’t previously been encouraged to think about. Also for me, it allows me to work things out alongside my dissertation, because there's a part of my dissertation which looks at health. We're always learning from each other.
Do you have any advice for new or incoming grad students?
Pace yourself. Take the time to meet with faculty, get a sense of their research, and also have an idea of what you like. You might have an idea about your own research, but be open to how it could change; embracing that change is important. It's okay to not know things. That will work out eventually. But most importantly, take care of yourself. Prioritize your emotions and take a break when things get overwhelming. As an international student myself, I had to deal with a lot of culture shock and just settling in. So, taking care of yourself is really important.
Lastly, do you have any recommendations for Caribbean sci-fi?
Authors Nalo Hopkinson, Karen Lord, and Tobias Buckell. And the short story collection New Worlds Old Ways: Speculative Tales from the Caribbean.