School of Social and Political Science

Description

Abstract

What is in a medical device? The technological device looms large in critical studies of global health. From ultrasound scanners (Grant 2022) to contraceptive auto-injectors (MacDonald and Foley 2022) to rapid diagnostic tests (Beisel et al 2016), anthropologists and STS researchers have found devices to be useful objects to follow, critique and analytically deconstruct. But what would we find out if we actually deconstructed them, as in: materially disassembled them, investigated their physical components and analysed their chemical ingredients? This laboratory-based seminar invites participants to practically engage with a specific sub-set of medical devices: the single-use plastic device. The health industry is one of the largest growing markets for plastics and a major contributor to global plastic waste and carbon emissions. Yet the presence of single-use plastic devices in places of medicine and public health is largely taken for granted. This laboratory aims to equip participants with the practical skills to examine what plastic medical devices are made from, investigate where they came from, and consider the damage they might do across their lifecycles. In doing so, we hope to open up new ways of seeing and relating to medical devices in anthropology and STS and initiate a discussion about material methods of critique.