Jane Prophet on Firearm Injury Prevention

Jane Prophet, PhD, associate dean for research at the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, was a featured guest on the Michigan Minds podcast as part of a special series on on firearm injury prevention research at the University of Michigan. 

Prophet serves as a mem­ber of the U‑M Firearm Injury Pre­ven­tion Steer­ing Com­mit­tee, which aims to pro­vide rec­om­men­da­tions to U‑M Pres­i­dent Mark Schlis­sel on an over­ar­ch­ing struc­ture to lead the nation in the study and pre­ven­tion of firearm injury and death. 

In the Michigan Minds podcast, Prophet discusses the ways artists and designers at Stamps serve as valued members of interdisciplinary research teams — especially in the realm of public health and wellbeing. Prophet also explores the positive impacts that art and design can foster in communities healing from firearm injury — and seeking to prevent it.

“When artists and designers engage with these difficult or controversial topics, they encourage people to think, to come together,” Prophet said. ​“Some of the artworks are basically healing how do we come together after some very traumatic experience and heal from that process. And in other ways it may just be about opening up the conversation. When topics are very polarized, it’s really important to find spaces where we can meet and talk, or even just privately look at something and have a different thought.”

The Michigan Minds podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts — Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and Spotify. 

Michigan Minds | Firearm Injury Prevention Series: The Role of Art and Design