William J Robertson
Biographic Data
| ID | 223076 |
|---|---|
| NAME | William J Robertson |
| GIVEN NAMES | William J |
| FAMILY NAME | Robertson |
| SIGNATURE | ROBERTSON W J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Arizona |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5263-5038 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 7 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Temporalities of interembodiment: Insights from clinical and community health practices
This article elaborates Bunkley's concept of interembodiment by considering its temporal aspects. Bunkley's original formulation emerged from instances of what we call durable interembodiment , or interembodiments that operate over long periods of time and have lingering effects. We suggest that interembodiment also occurs in more fleeting and transient ways, and we term this ephemeral interembodiment . Drawing on theories of temporality, care, a…
Iatrogenic necropolitics: Forced anal examinations and state-sanctioned homophobia
In 2016, Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organisation, published a report on the use of forced anal examinations to identify and prosecute putative 'homosexuals'. The report provided detailed descriptions and first-person accounts of these examinations in several countries in the Middle East and Africa. Drawing on theories of iatrogenesis and queer necropolitics, this paper uses these accounts and other reports of forced anal ex…
The Butt of the Joke: Humour and Queer Care at an Anal Dysplasia Clinic
Based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork I conducted at an anal cancer prevention clinic in Chicago, USA, this article considers queer camp humour as a care practice to better understand how providers and patients navigate clinical interactions centred around a stigmatised disease in a taboo body part. Humorous moments infused daily life at the clinic, and I came to see them as a critical feature of the clinic's uniquely queer environment and…
A Tale of Two Shitties
Based on 12 months of ethnographic data collection in an anal cancer prevention clinic, this article uses the extreme examples of patients involuntarily defecating through the anoscope during the procedure to highlight the relationship between the extreme and the everyday. Despite the rarity of this occurrence, I argue that these extreme examples shed light on the ways the daily clinical routines are embodied as an expert habitus. High Resolution…
Believe it or not’: The medical framing of rectal foreign bodies
Medical and lay attention to and intervention for rectal foreign bodies, the presence of an object in the rectum most often via insertion through the anus, has long been a source of humour and suspicion in both medical and public discourses. How do the ways medical providers write and talk to each other about rectal foreign bodies shape and reflect understandings of gender, sexuality and the (im)proper use of the anus and rectum? This paper exami…
The Irrelevance Narrative: Queer (In)Visibility in Medical Education and Practice
How might heteronormativity be reproduced and become internalized through biomedical practices? Based on in-depth, person-centered interviews, this article explores the ways heteronormativity works into medical education through the hidden curriculum. As experienced by my informants, case studies often reinforce unconscious heteronormative orientations and heterosexist/homophobic stereotypes about queer patients among straight and queer medical s…
Infectious Disease Outbreaks Related to Drinking Water in Canada, 1974–2001
Recent public attention on drinking water supplies in the aftermath of waterborne infection outbreaks in Walkerton and North Battleford raises questions about safety. We analyzed information on waterborne outbreaks occurring between 1974 and 2001 in order to identify apparent trends, review the current status of monitoring and reporting, and gain a better understanding of the impact of drinking water quality on public health and disease burden. D…
The Irrelevance Narrative: Queer (In)Visibility in Medical Education and Practice
How might heteronormativity be reproduced and become internalized through biomedical practices? Based on in-depth, person-centered interviews, this article explores the ways heteronormativity works into medical education through the hidden curriculum. As experienced by my informants, case studies often reinforce unconscious heteronormative orientations and heterosexist/homophobic stereotypes about queer patients among straight and queer medical s…
Infectious Disease Outbreaks Related to Drinking Water in Canada, 1974–2001
Recent public attention on drinking water supplies in the aftermath of waterborne infection outbreaks in Walkerton and North Battleford raises questions about safety. We analyzed information on waterborne outbreaks occurring between 1974 and 2001 in order to identify apparent trends, review the current status of monitoring and reporting, and gain a better understanding of the impact of drinking water quality on public health and disease burden. D…
The Butt of the Joke: Humour and Queer Care at an Anal Dysplasia Clinic
Based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork I conducted at an anal cancer prevention clinic in Chicago, USA, this article considers queer camp humour as a care practice to better understand how providers and patients navigate clinical interactions centred around a stigmatised disease in a taboo body part. Humorous moments infused daily life at the clinic, and I came to see them as a critical feature of the clinic's uniquely queer environment and…
Infectious Disease Outbreaks Related to Drinking Water in Canada, 1974–2001
Recent public attention on drinking water supplies in the aftermath of waterborne infection outbreaks in Walkerton and North Battleford raises questions about safety. We analyzed information on waterborne outbreaks occurring between 1974 and 2001 in order to identify apparent trends, review the current status of monitoring and reporting, and gain a better understanding of the impact of drinking water quality on public health and disease burden. D…
Believe it or not’: The medical framing of rectal foreign bodies
Medical and lay attention to and intervention for rectal foreign bodies, the presence of an object in the rectum most often via insertion through the anus, has long been a source of humour and suspicion in both medical and public discourses. How do the ways medical providers write and talk to each other about rectal foreign bodies shape and reflect understandings of gender, sexuality and the (im)proper use of the anus and rectum? This paper exami…
The Irrelevance Narrative: Queer (In)Visibility in Medical Education and Practice
How might heteronormativity be reproduced and become internalized through biomedical practices? Based on in-depth, person-centered interviews, this article explores the ways heteronormativity works into medical education through the hidden curriculum. As experienced by my informants, case studies often reinforce unconscious heteronormative orientations and heterosexist/homophobic stereotypes about queer patients among straight and queer medical s…
A Tale of Two Shitties
Based on 12 months of ethnographic data collection in an anal cancer prevention clinic, this article uses the extreme examples of patients involuntarily defecating through the anoscope during the procedure to highlight the relationship between the extreme and the everyday. Despite the rarity of this occurrence, I argue that these extreme examples shed light on the ways the daily clinical routines are embodied as an expert habitus. High Resolution…
Iatrogenic necropolitics: Forced anal examinations and state-sanctioned homophobia
In 2016, Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organisation, published a report on the use of forced anal examinations to identify and prosecute putative 'homosexuals'. The report provided detailed descriptions and first-person accounts of these examinations in several countries in the Middle East and Africa. Drawing on theories of iatrogenesis and queer necropolitics, this paper uses these accounts and other reports of forced anal ex…
The Butt of the Joke: Humour and Queer Care at an Anal Dysplasia Clinic
Based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork I conducted at an anal cancer prevention clinic in Chicago, USA, this article considers queer camp humour as a care practice to better understand how providers and patients navigate clinical interactions centred around a stigmatised disease in a taboo body part. Humorous moments infused daily life at the clinic, and I came to see them as a critical feature of the clinic's uniquely queer environment and…
Temporalities of interembodiment: Insights from clinical and community health practices
This article elaborates Bunkley's concept of interembodiment by considering its temporal aspects. Bunkley's original formulation emerged from instances of what we call durable interembodiment , or interembodiments that operate over long periods of time and have lingering effects. We suggest that interembodiment also occurs in more fleeting and transient ways, and we term this ephemeral interembodiment . Drawing on theories of temporality, care, a…
Sociology (5 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Medicine (3 works) · Psychology (3 works) · Anorectal Disease Treatments and Outcomes (2 works) · Art (2 works) · Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Issues (2 works) · Human sexuality (2 works) · Public health (2 works) · Queer (2 works)