Critical radiography

Reconfiguring radiography through a critical theory lens reveals how medical imaging extends beyond clinical neutrality into contested terrains of representation, visibility and power, where bodies are not only scanned but symbolically encoded, interpreted and subjected to institutional logics that shape what is seen, how it is read and whose knowledge is privileged; rather than viewing radiographic practices as mere applications of technical expertise, the argument pivots towards understanding imaging as an epistemological apparatus—a visual discourse that operates under regimes of authority, silence and standardisation, often masking structural biases, particularly around race, gender and disability, by naturalising the gaze of the machine and the assumed objectivity of interpretation; embedded in this critique is the call to reposition the radiographer not as a passive technician but as a knowledge worker, capable of ethical reflection and active participation in constructing meaning, raising questions about image ownership, diagnostic narration and the affective labour of making bodies legible within hierarchical medical systems; case studies across diverse imaging contexts—from trauma scans to maternity sonography—reveal how patient identities are flattened or erased through routinised imaging processes, while professional training often reinforces this detachment through a curriculum prioritising mechanics over ethics, leading to what the text terms epistemic underexposure, a failure to equip practitioners with the conceptual tools to interrogate their own seeing; integrating feminist theory, postcolonial critique and visual culture studies, the work urges a reimagining of radiography as a culturally embedded and ethically charged act, reclaiming criticality within a field often rendered invisible in theoretical debates, and suggesting that visual medicine must not only heal but also see justly, reflexively and with a commitment to plural knowledges.