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The Birth of the Clinic : an unknown work of medical geography
Author(s) -
Philo Chris
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
area
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1475-4762
pISSN - 0004-0894
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4762.2000.tb00110.x
Subject(s) - reading (process) , work (physics) , michel foucault , human geography , place of birth , health geography , historical geography , sociology , social science , geography , medicine , demography , linguistics , nursing , political science , law , philosophy , public health , engineering , mechanical engineering , population , international health , health promotion , politics
Summary This paper provides a ‘geographical reading’ of Michel Foucault's book, The Birth of the Clinic (1963 in French; 1976 in English). It is argued that this book is a remarkable work of medical geography, despite remaining almost entirely unreferenced and unnoticed in the literature. The emphases in the book, particularly on medicine discovering the hidden spaces of the body, suggest possible new foci for medical geography, as well as placing a new cast on more established ones.