Awards
- Winner of American Anthropological Association/Society for Psychological Anthropology Stirling Prize 2005
- Winner of American Anthropological Association/Society for Psychological Anthropology Stirling Prize 2005.
- Winner of Diana Forsythe Prize, American Anthropological Association 2005 (United States)
Overview
"By showing us the human brain at work, PET (positron emission tomography) scans are subtly - and sometimes not so subtly - transforming how we think about our minds. ""Picturing Personhood"" follows this remarkable and expensive technology from the laboratory into the world and back. It examines how PET scans are created and how they are being called on to answer myriad questions with far-reaching implications: is depression an observable brain disease? Are criminals insane? Do men and women think differently? Is rationality a function of the brain? Based on interviews, media analysis and participant observation at research labs and conferences, Joseph Dumit analyses how assumptions designed into and read out of the experimental process reinforce specific notions about human nature. Such assumptions can enter the process at any turn, from selecting subjects and mathematical models to deciding which images to publish and how to colour them. Once they leave the laboratory, PET scans shape social debates, influence courtroom outcomes and have positive and negative consequences for people suffering mental illness.Dumit follows this complex story, demonstrating how brain scans, as scientific objects, contribute to our increasing social dependence on scientific authority."
Full Product Details
Author: Joseph Dumit ,
Paul Rabinow
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.90cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.397kg
ISBN: 9780691113982
ISBN 10: 069111398
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 04 January 2004
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Temporarily unavailable
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Language: English
Reviews
"Winner of the 2005 Diana Forsythe Prize, American Anthropological Association ""Picturing Personhood is one of the few visual-culture studies freed from lame textbook generalizations and predictable criticism... Given that brain imaging is on its way to becoming a decisive factor in the technologies of social control and selection, it is a question of political awareness to study the latest step in the conversion of human beings into visual information.""--Tom Holert, Bookforum"
Picturing Personhood is one of the few visual-culture studies freed from lame textbook generalizations and predictable criticism... Given that brain imaging is on its way to becoming a decisive factor in the technologies of social control and selection, it is a question of political awareness to study the latest step in the conversion of human beings into visual information. -- Tom Holert Bookforum
Winner of the 2005 Diana Forsythe Prize, American Anthropological Association Picturing Personhood is one of the few visual-culture studies freed from lame textbook generalizations and predictable criticism... Given that brain imaging is on its way to becoming a decisive factor in the technologies of social control and selection, it is a question of political awareness to study the latest step in the conversion of human beings into visual information. --Tom Holert, Bookforum
Author Information
Joseph Dumit is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Science & Technology Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a coeditor of Cyborgs & Citadels and Cyborg Babies and Associate Editor of the journal Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry.
