Illness and culture in the postmodern age / David B. Morris.

By:

Morris, David B [author.]

Material type: Text

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

0520208692
9780520208698
0520214412
9780520214415
0520226895
9780520226890

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

306.461 21

LOC classification:

RA418 .M68 1998

Online resources:

Contributor biographical information

Contents:

Country of the ill -- What is postmodern illness -- White noise of health -- Reinventing pain -- Utopian bodies -- Neurobiology and the obscene -- Plot of suffering -- Illness in the time of Disney --

List of Illustrations -- Introduction: How to Live Forever -- 1.. The Country of the Ill -- 2.. What Is Postmodern Illness? -- 3.. The White Noise of Health -- 4.. Reinventing Pain -- 5.. Utopian Bodies -- 6.. Neurobiology and the Obscene -- 7.. The Plot of Suffering -- 8.. Illness in the Time of Disney -- Conclusion: Narrative Bioethics -- Notes -- Index.

Summary: "We become ill in ways our parents and grandparents did not, with diseases unheard of and treatments undreamed of by them. Illness has changed in the postmodern era--roughly the period since World War II--as dramatically as technology, transportation, and the texture of everyday life. Exploring these changes, David B. Morris tells the fascinating story, or stories, of what goes into making the postmodern experience of illness different, perhaps unique. Even as he decries the overuse and misuse of the term "postmodern," Morris shows how brightly ideas of illness, health, and postmodernism illuminate one another in late-twentieth-century culture.Modern medicine traditionally separates disease--an objectively verified disorder--from illness--a patient's subjective experience. Postmodern medicine, Morris says, can make no such clean distinction; instead, it demands a biocultural model, situating illness at the crossroads of biology and culture. Maladies such as chronic fatigue syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder signal our awareness that there are biocultural ways of being sick.The biocultural vision of illness not only blurs old boundaries but also offers a new and infinitely promising arena for investigating both biology and culture. In many ways Illness and Culture in the Postmodern Age leads us to understand our experience of the world differently."--Publisher description.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Book	North Campus North Campus Main Collection	306.461 MOR (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		A220283B

Includes bibliographical references (pages 279-333) and index.

"We become ill in ways our parents and grandparents did not, with diseases unheard of and treatments undreamed of by them. Illness has changed in the postmodern era--roughly the period since World War II--as dramatically as technology, transportation, and the texture of everyday life. Exploring these changes, David B. Morris tells the fascinating story, or stories, of what goes into making the postmodern experience of illness different, perhaps unique. Even as he decries the overuse and misuse of the term "postmodern," Morris shows how brightly ideas of illness, health, and postmodernism illuminate one another in late-twentieth-century culture.Modern medicine traditionally separates disease--an objectively verified disorder--from illness--a patient's subjective experience. Postmodern medicine, Morris says, can make no such clean distinction; instead, it demands a biocultural model, situating illness at the crossroads of biology and culture. Maladies such as chronic fatigue syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder signal our awareness that there are biocultural ways of being sick.The biocultural vision of illness not only blurs old boundaries but also offers a new and infinitely promising arena for investigating both biology and culture. In many ways Illness and Culture in the Postmodern Age leads us to understand our experience of the world differently."--Publisher description.

Machine converted from AACR2 source record.

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