Dissertation Grant: Medical Technologies and Social Identities

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

This project will examine the intersection of expertise, technology, and standards through a study of how surgeons and patients are using surgery to conform to and to redefine social norms. With advances in medical technologies and changing conceptions of the body, this study will document mechanisms of individual bodily modifications through elective medical procedures within a social-cultural context. This study will yield practical strategies for improving communication between patients and doctors and to explore the effects of markets and healthcare systems in multi-cultural contexts. The project proposes an ethnographic comparison of surgery in two multicultural communities. Through systematic observations of clinical encounters in cosmetic surgery clinics and interviews with surgeons and patients, the study will investigate how surgeons and patients are relating specific physical features to group identities and what the implications are for communities, healthcare systems and medical practices. This study will extend theorization on classification and re-classification in (bio)medicine; and medical technologies and changing conceptions of the body in society.