The Manufacture of Bodies in Surgery

TLDR

The study ethnographically examines surgical operations as encounters between a parcelled patient body and an aggregated surgeon body, and discusses how such practice addresses ritual aspects of scientific work and the embodiment of anatomical representations. The authors describe how surgical teams make bodies operable, cooperate, and create anatomical visibility through highly skilled manipulations and optical technology. They conclude that surgical practice constructs the anatomical body as a sculptural accomplishment, addressing ritual aspects of scientific work and the embodiment of anatomical representations.

Abstract

This paper presents an ethnographic account of surgical operations as encounters of two disciplined bodies — a parcelled `patient-body', and an aggregated `surgeon-body'. It describes the practices of making bodies operable, of cooperating and of creating anatomical visibility by means of highly skilled manipulations and optical technology. The discussion relates features of surgical practice to two issues raised in science studies: (1) Ritual aspects of scientific work; how does a medical science deal with the life-world esteem for its object?; and (2) The relation of experience and representation; how do patients' bodies come to embody the properties of anatomical pictures? A constructivist interpretation is offered: the anatomical body is an accomplishment of the sculptural practice of operations.