Plastic surgery has played an integral role in helping people achieve societal expectations of appropriate physical appearance since its inception. Through the story of Carlton Burgan, a Union soldier during the American Civil War, who suffered severe facial trauma by mercury poisoning, this thesis hopes to reconstruct the conversation around plastic surgery’s origins as it is influenced by societal standards of the day. Specifically, this thesis argues that the seminal moments leading to plastic surgery being seen as a worthwhile medical specialty was during the Civil War, not World War I as so many scholars have put forth. Violent acts to the body as a method to advance plastic surgery techniques is explored in relation to acceptable physical appearance. Societal beauty standards on the time are posited to be the force behind the development of plastic surgery techniques, not plastic surgeons themselves. Plastic surgery evolved as the United States grew and began to embrace the Second Industrial Revolution’s influence on attitudes about beauty, leading to changes in societal beliefs about what is suitable in terms of appearance. This thesis argues that the new science of psychology that emerged in parallel to the Second Industrial Revolution is the main strategy for plastic surgery to be reconstructed as a worthwhile medical specialty. The exploration of plastic surgery procedures of the nose, face and genitalia are discussed due to their importance in constructing societal appearance standards. The thesis concludes with a return to the story of Carlton Burgan and his role as a change agent in medicine.

This thesis examines the current state of crude oil extraction and production in the Greater Burgan oilfield, Kuwait's largest and oldest oilfield. This thesis is based on interviews with oilfield workers, analyses of official documents from the Kuwaiti government and the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), and my own experience as an oilfield worker in Kuwait. through this, I trace the changing social and environmental relationships in the Burgan oilfield. Through Actor-Network-Theory and Assemblage Theory, I explore the different actors and the power dynamics negotiated between actants in the oil industry. Specifically, I am interested in how economic and social relationships are assembled in oil economies, how oil dependency impacts society, and how we can prepare for a future without oil. Burgan reservoirs have shifted from natural production to artificial lift, indicating that Burgan has reached its oil production peak. This plateau in oil production has incited KOC to further invest in technology, to compensate for the anticipation in oil production shortfalls. Furthermore, I examine how 'cultures' are created around oil in the oilfields. This leads me to ask how labour security, safety, and dependencies are negotiated in relation to global processes. I conclude that the declining profitability of the oil market is compensated for by lower salaries, the deterioration of working conditions and worker rights. Finally, I explore the long-term health and environmental effects, and how their mitigation is negotiated in the oilfields. The study highlights the practice of gas flaring as leading to carbon emissions in extraction of oil and shows that the official data on flaring is underrepresented. In addition, a lack of awareness and mitigation around Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) is highlighted and discussed. Finally, the argument is made that the traditional oil industry in Kuwait is disassembling, KOC now invests in oil markets else-where to compensate for losses. As shown here, oilfield workers are the first point of contact in this complex situation, so they should be considered in the transition process.