Bodies in Formation: An Ethnography of Anatomy and Surgery Education

Experimental Futures

by Rachel Prentice

Surgeons employ craft, cunning, and technology to open, observe, and repair patient bodies. In Bodies in Formation, anthropologist Rachel Prentice enters surgical suites increasingly packed with new medical technologies to explore how surgeons are made in the early twenty-first century. Prentice argues that medical students and residents learn through practice, coming to embody unique ways of perceiving, acting, and being. Drawing on ethnographic observation in anatomy laboratories, operating rooms, and technology design groups, she shows how trainees become physicians through interactions with colleagues and patients, technologies and pathologies, bodies and persons. Bodies in Formation foregrounds the technical, ethical, and affective formation of physicians, demonstrating how, even within a world of North American biomedicine increasingly dominated by technologies for remote interventions and computerized teaching, good care remains the art of human healing.

Genres: Anthropology

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Rachel Prentice is Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University.

Reviews

[Cara Swain · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book challenging to read, most noticeable by the length of time it took me to read it.

I should caveat my review with the fact that I am probably the core target audience for this book - I’m a surgeon, doing research using ethnographic methods to explore surgical simulation - and yet, even with that connection to the material, I struggled to concentrate through each chapter and have had to grit my teeth over the last few days to commit to finishing it.

The body of work is impressive and I think there are some absolute nuggets of epistemological gold in here, but I think Prentice has buried them by trying to achieve too much. She brings a huge amount of theoretical material into each chapter, but combined with a general paucity of provided rich data (despite clearly observing for an extensive period), as a reader I felt lost and mostly confused. The chapters were LONG and felt quite disparate; I needed a more coherent narrative to follow in each chapter and the threads of a few novel ideas clearly linking each chapter together. By the time I got to the conclusion, I was crying out for a cohesive summary, but alas, another 14 pages…

Sadly, and it pains me to say it because this is my profession and field of interest, I found the book a bit dull. It lacked the rich description and flair of other medical ethnographies I’ve read, which made me feel in the moment and eager to read more. I was hoping to be taken on a journey of ‘bodies being formed’ but my overwhelming memory on finally completing it is the names of lots of theorists. I’m going to have to go back in and find those nuggets of gold to support my own research, because I know they’re in there, but despite reading (and re-reading some sections) cover-to-cover, I couldn’t confidently articulate what they are. This is probably a book limited for the core simulation researcher as a reference, and nothing more.

[Victoria Perkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

not bad for required reading

[Jaymee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly observations made by the writer, which are interesting in themselves but lacking some depth. Tends to be repetitive; her focus is on affective response; linking dissections to modern machinery and tools for anatomical studies, and Prentice makes the entire book revolve on this, thus diluting the richness of her own experiences as well. I also wonder about researchers' hesitancy in participating (though by no means am I saying they're required). If the topic interests you, wouldn't you want to join in, out of curiosity and the actual need to experience it viscerally? She throws in a few philosophers' insights which also warrants deeper analysis. Her conclusion is again a repetition of the first chapter, wherein she adds her "eventual" experience in dissection. I would recommend borrowing this from your library than getting your own copy.