Social and Biomedical Dimensions of the Body: A Critical Analysis of Artistic Production in Medical Students

Abstract

Objective: To explore the discourses surrounding the body based on the artistic production of medical students at a private university in Guadalajara, Mexico, in order to identify how social, psychological, and biomedical dimensions are integrated into their initial training.

Methodology: A qualitative study with an interpretive approach was conducted using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), based on Norman Fairclough's three-dimensional model. The corpus included 49 artistic productions and 37 reflective texts from second-semester students. The analysis was carried out through the Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Qualitative Analysis (AIAQA) process, which integrated the use of large language models (LLMs) and NotebookLM for data systematization, coding, and categorization. This process was validated through constant human-in-the-loop supervision to ensure interpretive rigor and respect for the institutional context.

Results: A discursive tension was identified between the "Body-Instrument" and the "Body-Garden." A view of the body as a technical automaton predominates, where the "white coat" functions as armor that grants status while concealing the subject's fragility. Students narrate their bodies as a healing tool marked by the demand for perfection and fatigue. However, counter-discourses emerge in which anatomy is transmuted into natural elements, representing vulnerability and transcendence. "Constitutive silences" were observed regarding patient agency and class inequality, evidencing a colonization of the social realm by hegemonic biomedical knowledge.

Conclusions: The project makes visible that medical training is not neutral; the student's subjectivity is shaped by a discourse that prioritizes technical perfection over human integrity. The identity of the future doctor is constructed under social surveillance, which generates mental health risks by silencing exhaustion and error. It is imperative to integrate medical humanities not as accessories, but as transversal axes that protect the subjectivity of those who wear the white coat. The AIAQA methodology proved to be a valuable resource for processing the complexity of subjective discourses in medical education with rigor and transparency..