# The Medical Carnivalesque: Folklore Among Physicians with Lisa Gabbert

This lecture provides an overview of the occupational folklore that exists among physicians in the United States today. Much of this folklore is humorous; it can also be earthy and even quite dark. Gabbert focuses on folklore that emerges in physician-to-physician communication, arguing that the content and themes that emerge are strikingly parallel to the ones identified by Mikhail Bakhtin in his concept of the carnivalesque. Bakhtin’s understanding of the carnivalesque was drawn from his analysis of medieval and early modern European culture, particularly pre-Lenten Carnival and the marketplace. These themes, which target relations between life and death, sickness, the body, and authoritative truth, unequivocally resonate in medical contexts. She further suggests that, as an occupation, medicine is permeated by the suffering of both patients and physicians. This occupational context of suffering is the basis for the medical carnivalesque. Examples and materials are drawn from interviews conducted with physicians for the Archie Green Occupational Folklife Project, as well as published, archival, and online sources, and personal observations. Lisa Gabbert is professor of folklore studies in the department of English and director of the folklore program at Utah State University. Her research interests are in the areas of folklore and landscape, festivity and play, and occupational folklore in medical contexts. She is the author of “Winter Carnival in a Western Town:…

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2025
- Runtime: 1 h 3 min
- By: Gabbert, Lisa
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/video-10734/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/video-10734?play=1)