Lifelines: The Traffic of Trauma

by Harris Solomon

In Lifelines Harris Solomon takes readers into the trauma ward of one of Mumbai’s busiest public hospitals, narrating the stories of the patients, providers, and families who experience and care for traumatic injuries due to widespread traffic accidents. He traces trauma’s moves after the from scenes of road and railway injuries to ambulance interiors; through emergency triage, surgery, and intensive care; and from the morgue for patients who do not survive into the homes of those who do. These pathways reveal how trauma shifts inequalities, infrastructures, and institutions through the lives and labors of clinical spaces. Solomon contends that medicine itself must be understood in terms of patterns of embodied movement that determine survival. In reflecting on the centrality of traffic to life, Lifelines explores a fundamental How does medicine move us?

Genres: Anthropology, Ethnography, Sociology

304 pages, Hardcover

Published September 23, 2022

Reviews

[Martyn Beeny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lifelines: The Traffic of Trauma is a compelling and deeply humane exploration of trauma care, emergency medicine, and the lived realities of injury in contemporary Mumbai. Harris Solomon masterfully combines ethnographic research with vivid storytelling to trace the journeys of patients, families, and healthcare professionals through the complex pathways of trauma care.

Insightful and thought provoking, the book offers fresh perspectives on medicine, infrastructure, and inequality. It is an essential read for medical anthropologists, healthcare professionals, and anyone interested in global health and ethnography.