A Jurisprudence of the Body

This book brings together a range of theoretical perspectives to consider fundamental questions of health law and the place of the body within it. Health, and more recently health law, has long been animated by discussions of particular bodies - whether they are disordered, diseased, or disabled - but each of these classificatory regimes claim some knowledge about the body. This edited collection aims to uncover and challenge the fundamental assumptions that underpin medico-legal knowledge claims about such bodies. This exploration is achieved through a mix of perspectives, but many contributors look towards embodiment as a perspective that understands bodies to be shaped by their institutional contexts. Much of this work alerts us to the idea that medical practitioners not only respond to healthcare issues, but also create them through their own understandings of 'normality' and 'fixing'. Bodies, as a result, cannot be understood outside of, or as separate to, their medical and legal contexts. This compelling book pushes the possibility of new directions in health care and health justice.

Chris Dietz is Lecturer in Law and Social Justice at the School of Law, University of Leeds, UK.

Mitchell Travis is Lecturer in Law and Social Justice and Deputy Director for the Centre of Law and Social Justice, in the School of Law at the University of Leeds, UK.

Michael Thomson is Director of the School of Law's Centre for Law and Social Justice, University of Leeds, UK, where he is also a Chair in Health Law.