Abstract
Medical schools are important nodes in the reproduction of medical knowledge, and an often-visited field site for medical anthropologists. To date, the spotlight has been on teachers, students and (simulated) patients. I broaden this focus to look at the practices of medical school secretaries, porters and other staff, investigating the embodied effects of their "invisible work." Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork in a Dutch medical school, I mobilize the more multisensory term "shadow work" to understand how such practices become part of medical students' future clinical practices through highlighting, isolating, and exaggerating, necessary elements of their medical education.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 437-450 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Medical Anthropology |
Volume | 42 |
Issue number | 5 |
Early online date | 17 May 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 4 Jul 2023 |
Keywords
- Embodiment
- invisible work
- medical education
- senses
- shadows
- skill
- The Netherlands
- TECHNICIANS
- SCIENCE
- SIMULATION
- CLEANERS
- DOCTORS
- TASTE