Abstract
In this paper, we propose analogies between medical discourse and Edward Said's “Orientalism.” Medical discourse, like Orientalism, tends to favor institutional interests and can be similarly dehumanizing in its reductionism, textual representations, and construction of its subjects. To resist Orientalism, Said recommends that critics—“intellectuals”—adopt the perspective of exile. We apply Said's paradigm of intellectual-as-exile to better understand the work of key physician-authors who cross personal and professional boundaries, who engage with patients in mutually therapeutic relationships, and who take on the public responsibility of representation and advocacy. We call these physician-authors “medical intellectuals” and encourage others to follow in their path.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Aronowitz, R. A. (1998). Making sense of illness: Science, society, and disease. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Belli, A., & Coulehan, J. (Eds.). (1998). Blood and bone. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.
Campo, R. (1994). The other man was me: A voyage to the new world. Houston, TX: Arte Publico Press.
Campo, R. (1996). What the body told. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Campo, R. (1997). The poetry of healing: A doctor's education in empathy, identity, and desire. New York: W. W. Norton.
Coulehan, J. (1992). On medicine and poetry. In S. B. Walker & R. D. Roffman (Eds.), Life on the line: Selections on words and healing (pp. 516–526). Mobile, AL: Negative Capability Press.
Coulehan, J. L. (1995). Tenderness and steadiness: Emotions in clinical practice. Literature and medicine, 14(2), 222–236.
Coulehan, J. (2001). The heavenly ladder. Charnwood, Australia: Ginninderra Press.
Donnelly, W. J. (1992). Why SOAP is bad for the medical record. Archives of Internal Medicine, 152(3), 481–484.
Donnelly, W. J. (1997). The language of medical case histories. Annals of Internal Medicine, 127(11), 1045–1048.
Foucault, M. (1973). The birth of the clinic: An archaeology of medical perception (A. M. Sheridan Smith, Trans.). New York: Vintage Books.
Jamison, K. R. (1995). An unquiet mind. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Morgan, K. P. (1998). Contested bodies, contested knowledges: Women, health, and the politics of medicalization. In S. Sherwin (Ed.), The politics of women's health: Exploring agency and autonomy (pp. 83–122). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Nuland, S. B. (1994). How we die: Reflections on life's final chapter. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Sacks, O. (1984). A leg to stand on. New York: Simon & Schuster/Touchstone.
Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.
Said, E. W. (1993). Culture and imperialism. New York: Vintage Books.
Said, E. W. (1994). Representations of the intellectual. New York: Pantheon Books.
Scannell, K. (1999). Death of the good doctor: Lessons from the heart of the AIDS epidemic. San Francisco: Cleis.
Selzer, R. (1994). Raising the dead. New York: Viking Penguin.
Verghese, A. (1994.). My own country. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Verghese, A. (1998). The tennis partner. New York: HarperCollins.
Verghese, A. (1999, April). Death & desire. Mirabella, pp. 117–119.
Williams, W. C. (1967). The practice. In The autobiography of William Carlos Williams (pp. 356–362). New York: New Directions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Aull, F., Lewis, B. Medical Intellectuals: Resisting Medical Orientalism. Journal of Medical Humanities 25, 87–108 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOMH.0000023174.20650.bf
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOMH.0000023174.20650.bf