Medicalizing Difference
The Eighteenth-Century Construction of the "Hermaphrodite"
1st Edition
Published on 17. October 2024
208 pages
978-1-350-37493-5 (ISBN)
Description
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
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
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
4 bw illus
ISBN-13
978-1-350-37493-5 (9781350374935)
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
Stephanie M. Hilger
Medicalizing Difference
The Eighteenth-Century Construction of the "Hermaphrodite"
Book
05/2026
Bloomsbury Academic
€44.30
Shipment within 15-20 days
Stephanie M. Hilger
Medicalizing Difference
The Eighteenth-Century Construction of the "Hermaphrodite"
Book
11/2024
Bloomsbury Academic
€126.28
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Stephanie M. Hilger is Professor of Comparative Literature and German at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.
Content
Introduction
Chapter 1: Empiricism and the Professionalization of Medicine
Chapter 2: Marketing the Hermaphrodite
Chapter 3: Fluids and Other Matters
Chapter 4: Terra Incognita/Parts Unknown
Conclusion
Works Cited
Chapter 1: Empiricism and the Professionalization of Medicine
Chapter 2: Marketing the Hermaphrodite
Chapter 3: Fluids and Other Matters
Chapter 4: Terra Incognita/Parts Unknown
Conclusion
Works Cited
