Abstract

In this paper, I argue that thinking about the clinical investigation of breast cancer in terms of embodiment could enrich the medical clinic by taking better account of the social. According to anthropological theory, “embodiment” describes how the social is inscribed in the body, co-shaping and co-transforming it. During the course of this paper, we focus on the social, in its broadest sense, as it relates to relational life and insofar as it contributes to health and illness. Clinical investigation thus describes all the processes leading to a diagnosis, including elements related to the contexts and socializations of patients and doctors. Our aim is to show that the anthropological concept of embodiment can lead to greater and better consideration of relational life as a parameter of cognition and medical action in relation to breast cancer. Since social inequalities in breast cancer are widely recognized, I postulate that an explicit and theorized consideration of the social in medicine is necessary for reducing social inequalities in health. First, I argue that the disciplines that mobilize the concept of embodiment produce knowledge that has not yet been taken into consideration through the clinical investigation of breast cancer. Next, I explore how these different approaches can concretely enrich the clinic and complement each other. Finally, based on a multidisciplinary genealogy of embodiment, I examine the reasons why the comprehensive anthropological approach to “embodiment” - which combines phenomenological and sociological approaches – may be the most appropriate to be of clinical benefit. I conclude by showing that an embodiment-driven clinic may lead to a better understanding of the issues at stake in the clinical investigation of breast cancer and to more efficient actions.