Somatosphere
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In the Journals August 2026
View article: In the Journals August 2026Somatosphere welcomes you to the August edition of “In the Journals.” Scroll through our monthly round up of new research across anthropology, STS and social science journals. Sociology of Health and Illness More Than a Role Dispute: Physician Associates and the Changing Grounds of Medical Authority Louise Ashley This article examines how the legitimacy of…
Somatosphere is a collaborative website covering the intersections of medical anthropology, medical sociology, history of science and medicine, science and technology studies, and cultural psychiatry.
Featured articles
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Become a nurse in Germany!
View article: Become a nurse in Germany!“Most of these other agency heads are, in my opinion, car salesmen. They would sell anything and would probably also somehow sell their grandmother’s washing machine, probably also their grandmother if they could get money for it.” This is how one CEO of a German nurse recruitment company explained to us what distinguished his enterprise…
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The taskforce as middleman: The rise and fall of IMPACT
View article: The taskforce as middleman: The rise and fall of IMPACTThis is the story of how the World Health Organisation (WHO) came to partner with Interpol and the pharmaceutical industry to fight a war against fake drugs. This partnership took the form of a taskforce, the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeit Taskforce (IMPACT), which contributed greatly to how counterfeit drugs became understood as a threat to…
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The “Suitcase Trader”: The Middlemen in the Cosmetics Market of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
View article: The “Suitcase Trader”: The Middlemen in the Cosmetics Market of Dar es Salaam, TanzaniaIntroduction I’m walking through Mwenge, one of Dar es Salaam’s central business districts. I’ve been spending time here with Hassan, a petty cosmetics trader, who carries his goods in a suitcase as he makes his daily tour of the market. We’ve been walking a while and Hassan suggests that we stop by at his favourite…
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In the Journals – July 2026
View article: In the Journals – July 2026Somatosphere welcomes you to the July edition of “In the Journals.” Scroll through our monthly round up of new research across anthropology, STS and social science journals. Cultural Anthropology Out of Time? Chronocracy and Ageism in Brexit–COVID-19 England Cathrine Degnen Generation or relative age is a common way humans define social difference. In Europe and…
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We are all fakes brokers: reflections from staging fakes in Mombasa
View article: We are all fakes brokers: reflections from staging fakes in MombasaIt’s a Ramadhan morning in the port city of Mombasa, early April 2023. I’m standing behind an audience of about 100 people who have turned up to a makeshift stage on the edge of the neighbourhood of Old Town. A performance of Lisemwalo Lipo: A play about vaccine rumours is in full swing.
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Middlemen, fakes, and global health: Opening provocations
View article: Middlemen, fakes, and global health: Opening provocationsWhy should the figure of the middleman matter for scholars of global health? The short answer is: they are impossible to avoid. The long answer is as follows: Throughout the twenty-first century, claims have circulated that the global pharmaceutical supply chain is awash with fakes, and these claims sparked our curiosity. For nearly a decade,…
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In the Journals – June 2026
View article: In the Journals – June 2026Somatosphere welcomes you to the June edition of “In the Journals.” Scroll through our monthly round up of new research across anthropology, STS and social science journals. American Anthropologist Positioning Ontologies of Racial Inequity That are Prevalent in Reproductive and Maternal Health in South Africa Efua Prah This paper discusses the racialized historical trajectories through…
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Biopolitical Fieldwork in Practice: Notes from Our Delhi Workshop
View article: Biopolitical Fieldwork in Practice: Notes from Our Delhi Workshop1. Biopolitical Fieldwork By the end of 2023, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 public health emergency to be over. With this announcement came the realisation that, despite an abundance of publications, online debates, and solitary reflection, it remained difficult to know how to think about what we had lived through – or even…
Featured articles
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The taskforce as middleman: The rise and fall of IMPACT
View article: The taskforce as middleman: The rise and fall of IMPACTThis is the story of how the World Health Organisation (WHO) came to partner with Interpol and the pharmaceutical industry to fight a war against fake drugs. This partnership took the form of a taskforce, the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeit Taskforce (IMPACT), which contributed greatly to how counterfeit drugs became understood as a threat to…
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The “Suitcase Trader”: The Middlemen in the Cosmetics Market of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
View article: The “Suitcase Trader”: The Middlemen in the Cosmetics Market of Dar es Salaam, TanzaniaIntroduction I’m walking through Mwenge, one of Dar es Salaam’s central business districts. I’ve been spending time here with Hassan, a petty cosmetics trader, who carries his goods in a suitcase as he makes his daily tour of the market. We’ve been walking a while and Hassan suggests that we stop by at his favourite…
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In the Journals – July 2026
View article: In the Journals – July 2026Somatosphere welcomes you to the July edition of “In the Journals.” Scroll through our monthly round up of new research across anthropology, STS and social science journals. Cultural Anthropology Out of Time? Chronocracy and Ageism in Brexit–COVID-19 England Cathrine Degnen Generation or relative age is a common way humans define social difference. In Europe and…
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We are all fakes brokers: reflections from staging fakes in Mombasa
View article: We are all fakes brokers: reflections from staging fakes in MombasaIt’s a Ramadhan morning in the port city of Mombasa, early April 2023. I’m standing behind an audience of about 100 people who have turned up to a makeshift stage on the edge of the neighbourhood of Old Town. A performance of Lisemwalo Lipo: A play about vaccine rumours is in full swing.
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Middlemen, fakes, and global health: Opening provocations
View article: Middlemen, fakes, and global health: Opening provocationsWhy should the figure of the middleman matter for scholars of global health? The short answer is: they are impossible to avoid. The long answer is as follows: Throughout the twenty-first century, claims have circulated that the global pharmaceutical supply chain is awash with fakes, and these claims sparked our curiosity. For nearly a decade,…
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In the Journals – June 2026
View article: In the Journals – June 2026Somatosphere welcomes you to the June edition of “In the Journals.” Scroll through our monthly round up of new research across anthropology, STS and social science journals. American Anthropologist Positioning Ontologies of Racial Inequity That are Prevalent in Reproductive and Maternal Health in South Africa Efua Prah This paper discusses the racialized historical trajectories through…
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The virology of history: notes from a workshop on symbiotic viruses
View article: The virology of history: notes from a workshop on symbiotic virusesA workshop report of Symbiotic Viruses, convened by Benjamin Hegarty and Frédéric Keck, and held at the Collège de France and Paris Institute for Advanced Study, 4-5 March 2025 1. The virology of history The idea that viruses might be addressed as potential allies in human health is a tantalising yet troubling prospect. In the aftermath…
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Book review: ‘Get it out: On the Politics of Hysterectomy’
View article: Book review: ‘Get it out: On the Politics of Hysterectomy’Get it out: On the Politics of Hysterectomy by Andréa Becker (New York University Press: 2025) Hysterectomy is the most common gynecological procedure worldwide, yet until recently only one book, written by Jean Elson in 2003, has previously taken it as its central focus, reflecting a dominant narrative that obscures the diversity of its interpretations.…
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