The co-marking of aged bodies and migrant bodies: migrant workers’ contribution to geriatric medicine in the UK

Raghuram, Parvati; Bornat, Joanna and Henry, Leroi (2011). The co-marking of aged bodies and migrant bodies: migrant workers’ contribution to geriatric medicine in the UK. Sociology of Health & Illness, 33(2) pp. 321–335.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2010.01290.x

Abstract

This article sits at the nexus between two bodies of work, gerontology and migration research, both of which have theorised the body as the locus of stigma. Gerontologists, while acknowledging the significance of perceptions of the ageing body for engagement and participation in society, have often evaded direct engagement with physical and medical understandings of older bodies. In parallel, research which focuses on migration, race and the body has focused on how the migrant body is stigmatised both because of its somatic markers and because of the status of the frail older people whom they tend. Drawing on oral history interviews with UK born and South Asian overseas-trained geriatricians, the article argues that the two bodies, which are usually seen in negative ways, came together in meaningful ways in the development of the specialty of geriatric medicine. Thinking of the body as an assemblage with many elements, some of which are stigmatised but which can nevertheless be recuperated, helps us to think beyond stigma in the context of body work.

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