On islands and bridges: Working at the intersection of anthropology and clinical medicine

On August 18th, 2023, Mette Terp Høybye delivered her inaugural lecture at the Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University. She was appointed as a professor of medical anthropology, and the lecture was titled "On islands and bridges: Working at the intersection of anthropology and clinical medicine".
The event featured a blend of lecture and performance, which was recorded and can be found on the IMC website.
The lecture aimed to explore the intersection of anthropology and clinical medicine and highlighted how they can complement each other. The lecture traced how social science methodologies and theories provide a way to critically understand illness and the practice of medicine. By engaging with clinical practices from within, it can also inform and develop theories and methodologies in anthropology and the medical humanities.
As part of the lecture, Marie Hallager Andersen, a dance artist and choreographer, performed "6570 Pills & 43 Clips, " an ongoing project about diagnoses, hospitalizations, and the physical and mental scars of the body. The performance raises questions about the porous borderlands of the body, self, and environment during illness and medical treatment. The artistic work creates a bridge to approach, debate, and understand such experiences.
Mette Terp Høybye and Marie Hallager Andersen are long-time collaborators on the project “Fieldwork in the Body”.