Biomedicine as Culture : Instrumental Practices, Technoscientific Knowledge, and New Modes of Life

This volume offers interdisciplinary perspectives on contemporary biomedicine as a cultural practice. The collection of essays brings together leading scholars from cultural anthropology, sociology, history, and science studies to conduct a critical dialogue on the culture(s) of biomedical practice, discussing its epistemic, material, and social implications. The essays look at the ways new biomedical knowledge is constructed within hospitals and academic settings and at how this knowledge changes perceptions, material arrangements, and social relations, not only within clinics and scientific communities, but especially once it is diffused into a broader cultural context.