Reifying the Body through the Medicalization of Violent Death
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2499482 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David Kozak (0000-0002-2622-370X, Arizona State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 48-54 |
| Publication date | 1994-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Human Organization (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-7259 • E-ISSN: 1938-3517 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.17730/humo.53.1.t820948817057074 |
| OpenAlex | W1968371528 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 13 |
This article suggests that the violent deaths of American Indians are being medicalized. The biomedical classification of violent death (suicides, homicides, accidents) subverts the social elements of causality in favor of identifying individual culpability. It is here argued that the biomedical nosology known as the International Classification of Disease (ICD) has entered the everyday, commonsensical discourse of those who investigate these deaths (police, EMTs, medical examiners). After presenting a theoretical framework I offer four ethnographic vignettes to illustrate how death has been medicalized among the Tohono O'odham Indians of southern Arizona. These vignettes, though not statistically significant, reveal how cause is inscribed on the bodies of the deceased. In other words, the classification of violent death reifies the individual body at the expense of the social body. Five recommendations for further research and consideration are then offered
Criminology · Medicalization · Psychiatry · Sociology · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Gender Studies · Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse · Psychology · Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses
The Social Organisation of Death
Death Without Weeping
A Bibliography on Suicide and Suicide Attempts among American Indians and Alaska Natives
The Discovery of Hyperkinesis
Native American Suicide in New Mexico, 1957-1979
Toward a political-economy of alcoholism
The Birth of the Clinic
The Costs of Cultural Change
The Mindful Body
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,04 |
| Citation span | 1998 - 1998 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |