After Death/After-'Life': The Social History of Medicine in Post-Postmodernity

Abstract

Summary. Well supported and institutionalised, the social history of medicine thrives. Its research agenda is infinitely expandable, and its humanist sentiments continue to touch emotional cords. Politically and intellectually, however, it is sterile. In a material and intellectual world that is radically different from the one in which it came into being, the social history of medicine has lost its capacity seriously to engage. This paper suggests that medico-centric historians not only have the expertise to re-engage with the contemporary bio-centric world, but that they have need to do so, and, moreover, every reason to take to the task enthusiastically. Crucial to moving on is understanding and seriously engaging with the moral-political and epistemological landscapes for medicine and its historiography, past and present.