The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice (Science and Cultural Theory) [Paperback]

Annemarie Mol (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0822329174 | ISBN-13: 978-0822329176 | Publication Date: January 17, 2003

The Body Multiple is an extraordinary ethnography of an ordinary disease. Drawing on fieldwork in a Dutch university hospital, Annemarie Mol looks at the day-to-day diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis. A patient information leaflet might describe atherosclerosis as the gradual obstruction of the arteries, but in hospital practice this one medical condition appears to be many other things. From one moment, place, apparatus, specialty, or treatment, to the next, a slightly different “atherosclerosis” is being discussed, measured, observed, or stripped away. This multiplicity does not imply fragmentation; instead, the disease is made to cohere through a range of tactics including transporting forms and files, making images, holding case conferences, and conducting doctor-patient conversations.

The Body Multiple juxtaposes two distinct texts. Alongside Mol’s analysis of her ethnographic material—interviews with doctors and patients and observations of medical examinations, consultations, and operations—runs a parallel text in which she reflects on the relevant literature. Mol draws on medical anthropology, sociology, feminist theory, philosophy, and science and technology studies to reframe such issues as the disease-illness distinction, subject-object relations, boundaries, difference, situatedness, and ontology. In dialogue with one another, Mol’s two texts meditate on the multiplicity of reality-in-practice.

Presenting philosophical reflections on the body and medical practice through vivid storytelling, The Body Multiple will be important to those in medical anthropology, philosophy, and the social study of science, technology, and medicine.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The Body Multiple is a magnificent achievement. Annemarie Mol deftly reveals in compelling language how ontologies are not transcendent but are brought about in practice. Focusing on the body and disease, her ethnography of the manipulation of knowledge, and not the objects of knowledge, forces us to comprehend reality as multiple. This book will, without doubt, move the philosophy and anthropology of medicine to new heights.”—Margaret Lock, McGill University

“The Body Multiple is compelling, wonderfully and sometimes slyly well-written, and full of innovative insights into ‘actually existing medical practice.’ Mol’s parallel text is well-placed intellectually in relation to her primary research text on atherosclerosis, and it provides a powerful teaching tool on how to think through and with science studies literatures when conducting an empirical project.”—Rayna Rapp, New York University

From the Publisher

"The Body Multiple is a magnificant achievement. Annemarie Mol deftly reveals in compelling language how ontologies are not transcendent but are brought about in practice. Focusing on the body and disease, her ethnography of the manipulation of knowledge, and not the objects of knowledge, forces us to comprehend reality as multiple. This book will, without doubt, move the philosophy and anthropology of medicine to new heights."—Margaret Lock, McGill University

"The Body Multiple is compelling, wonderfully and sometimes slyly well-written, and full of innovative insights into ‘actually existing medical practice.’ Mol’s parrallel text is well-placed intellectually in relation to the primary research text on atherosclerosis, and it provides a powerful teaching tool on how to think through and with science studies literatures when conducting an empirical project."—Rayna Rapp, New York University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press Books (January 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822329174
• ISBN-13: 978-0822329176
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #23 in Books > History > Europe > Netherlands

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars ok, June 6, 2011

By 

Tim H (Melbourne) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice (Science and Cultural Theory) (Paperback)

This book has some interesting ideas but a tone that verges on patronising - the author seems to enjoy toying with the reader in a way that is slightly irritating after a while. The thesis around ontological multiplicity is suggestive, but not thoroughly enough developed or linked explicitly enough to ideas or scholars to which it is indebted. I was a bit disappointed.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, April 7, 2011

By 

Nate Doherty "frustrated scholar" (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice (Science and Cultural Theory) (Paperback)

The complications of the traditional subject/object distinction that this book creates, while still remaining a fairly easy-to-read text is impressive. It's unconventional structure I found helpful, actually.