Department of Anthropology

Lecture: Brief encounters- Assembling cosmetic surgery tourism

Ruth Holliday, University of Leeds
 
31 March 2015 (Tuesday), 16:00-17:30
Venue: Arts C233

 
Ruth Holliday reports findings from a large-scale, multi-disciplinary, mixed methods project which explores the rapidly growing but poorly understood (and barely regulated) phenomenon of cosmetic surgery tourism (CST). Ruth and her team explored CST by drawing on theories of flows, networks and assemblages, aiming to produce a fuller and more nuanced account of − and accounting for − CST. Specific instances of assembling cosmetic surgery that they encountered in the field were illustrated with material from interviews with patients, facilitators and surgeons in Tunisia, Poland, Thailand and South Korea. This project advances understandings and theorisations of medical mobilities, globalisation and assemblage thinking.

Ruth Holliday is Professor of Gender and Culture at University of Leeds and led an international ESRC funded research project Sun, Sea, Sand and Silicone: aesthetic surgery tourism between 2011 and 2013.
 

For inquiries: C.K.Chekar@sussex.ac.uk