Medical identities : health, well-being and personhood

Author(s)

    • Maynard, Kent

Bibliographic Information

Medical identities : health, well-being and personhood

edited by Kent Maynard

(Social identities / general editors, Shirley Ardener, Tamara Dragadze and Jonathan Webber, v. 2)

Berghahn Books, 2007

  • pbk. : alk. paper

Available at  / 3 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Illness and misfortune more broadly are ubiquitous; thus, healing roles or professions are also universal. Ironically, however, little attention has been paid to those who heal or promote wellbeing. These come in many different guises: in some societies, healing is highly professional and specialized; in some cases, it is more preventative, in others more interventionist. Based on rich and wide-ranging ethnographic data and especially written for this volume, these essays look at how a great variety of health providers are perceived - from traditional healers to physicians, from diviners to nursing home providers. Conversely, the authors also ask how healers, or those concerned with wider matters of well being, view themselves and to what degree social attitudes differ in regard to who these people are, as well as their power, prestige and activities. As these essays demonstrate, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or state policy may all play formative roles in shaping the definition of health and wellbeing, how they are delivered, and the character and prestige of those who provide for our health and welfare in society.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Working at Therapeutic Personhood Kent Maynard Chapter 1. General Practitioners in Britain and South Africa Anne Digby Chapter 2. Drug-providers in Cambodia Ing-Britt Trankell and Jan Oveson Chapter 3. Medical Identity in Cameroon Kent Maynard Chapter 4.Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity among Zulu Diviners Gina Buijs Chapter 5. Learning to be an Acupuncturist Elisabeth Hsu Chapter 6. Auxiliary Workers in a Nursing-home Hierarchy Janette Davies Chapter 7. The Cost of a Normal Birth Jenny Littlewood Notes on contributors Index

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Related Books: 1-1 of 1

  • Social identities

    general editors, Shirley Ardener, Tamara Dragadze and Jonathan Webber

    Berghahn Books

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