Medicalizing Difference - The Eighteenth-Century Construction of the "Hermaphrodite"

Exploring 18th-century medicine''s construction of individuals with non-standard sexual anatomy as "hermaphrodites", this book focuses on the genre of the case history from three different languages and national contexts-British, French, and German. Medicalizing Difference examines case studies written about Anne Grandjean, Michel Anne Drouart, Maria Dorothea Derrier, and an unnamed "Angolan hermaphrodite." Multiple case studies were published about each of these individuals and are discussed throughout the book''s four chapters, each of which focuses on one momentous epistemological shift in the eighteenth-century: an increasing focus on empiricism and the related professionalization of medicine, the expanding market for popular scientific literature, changing notions about generation and reproduction, and the exploration of foreign territories.This book reads these case histories against the grain and historicizes 18th-century medicine''s construction of the category of the "hermaphrodite", demonstrating that, rather than describing a fact, these histories created their subject of study>

Info autore

Stephanie M. Hilger is Professor of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA), where she also holds an appointment in the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Stephanie M Hilger, Stephanie M. Hilger, Stephanie M. (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Hilger, Hilger Stephanie M.
• Editore: Bloomsbury Academic
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 14.11.2024
• EAN: 9781350374928
• ISBN: 978-1-350-37492-8
• Pagine: 208
• Serie: Critical Interventions in the Medical and Health Humanities
• Categorie: Scienze naturali, medicina, informatica, tecnica > Medicina > Branche non cliniche; Scienze umane, arte, musica > Scienze linguistiche e letterarie > Linguistica tedesca; letteratura in lingua tedesca; LITERARY CRITICISM / European / German, LITERARY CRITICISM / European / French, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 18th Century, History of Medicine, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800, Medical Sociology