Artificial Parts, Practical Lives
Modern Histories of Prosthetics
Published on 1. April 2002
Book
Paperback/Softback
359 pages
978-0-8147-6198-4 (ISBN)
Description
From the wooden teeth of George Washington to the Bly prosthesis, popular in the 1860s and boasting easy uniform motions of the limb, to today's lifelike approximations, prosthetic devices reveal the extent to which the evolution and design of technologies of the body are intertwined with both the practical and subjective needs of human beings.
The peculiar history of prosthetic devices sheds light on the relationship between technological change and the civilizing process of modernity, and analyzes the concrete materials of prosthetics which carry with them ideologies of body, ideals, body politics, and culture.
Simultaneously critiquing, historicizing, and theorizing prosthetics, Artificial Parts, Practical Lives lays out a balanced and complex picture of its subject, neither vilifying nor celebrating the merger of flesh and machine.
The peculiar history of prosthetic devices sheds light on the relationship between technological change and the civilizing process of modernity, and analyzes the concrete materials of prosthetics which carry with them ideologies of body, ideals, body politics, and culture.
Simultaneously critiquing, historicizing, and theorizing prosthetics, Artificial Parts, Practical Lives lays out a balanced and complex picture of its subject, neither vilifying nor celebrating the merger of flesh and machine.
Reviews / Votes
"These essays are valuable first forays into the history of prosthetics." (Technology and Culture)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
494 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8147-6198-4 (9780814761984)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Katherine Ott | David Serlin | Stephen Mihm
Artificial Parts, Practical Lives
Modern Histories of Prosthetics
E-Book
04/2002
New York University Press
€30.99
Available for download
Persons
Katherine Ott is a curator of Science, Medicine, and Society at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, which houses the largest collection of medical artifacts in the U.S.
David Serlin is Associate Professor of Communication and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego.
Stephen Mihmis a doctoral candidate in history at New York University.
David Serlin is Associate Professor of Communication and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego.
Stephen Mihmis a doctoral candidate in history at New York University.
Content
I: Need 1 Engineering Masculinity: Veterans and Prosthetics after World War Two 2 Re-Arming the Disabled Veteran: Artificially Rebuilding State and Society in World War One Germany 3 From Cotton to Silicone: Breast Prosthesis before 1950 4 "How a One-Legged Rebel Lives": Confederate Veterans and Artificial Limbs in Virginia II: Design 5 Hard Wear and Soft Tissue: Craft and Commerce in Artificial Eyes 6 Modern Miracles: The Development of Cosmetic Prosthetics 7 Casing the Joint: The Material Development of Artificial Hips 8 "There's No Language for This": Communication and Alignment in Contemporary Prosthetics III: Use and Representation 9 The Prosthetics of Management: Motion Study, Photography, and the Industrialized Body in World War I America 10 "A Limb Which Shall Be Presentable in Polite Society": Prosthetic Technologies in the Nineteenth Century 11 The Long Arm of Benjamin Franklin 12 Technology Sits Cross-Legged: Developing the Jaipur Foot Prothesis