This thesis explores the cultural implications underlying the medical practice of cutting human flesh. The examination focuses, in particular, on the function of representational technologies--from anatomy sketches to computer imaging--in the scientific understanding of the body in the West. By foregrounding the technologies of representation which inform and have directed a history of surgery, it is hoped that the cultural aspects of modern medicine will be made apparent. This thesis argues that while science benefitted from art to construct its image of 'the' body, it has had to rid itself of art in order to justify its empirical claims. The study concludes with a discussion of the work of the French performance artist Orlan who uses plastic surgery in a performative setting to deconstruct these very claims.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.23332 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Futterer, Patricia |
| Contributors | Morchessault, Janine (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Graduate Communications Program.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001492196, proquestno: MM12028, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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