{"id":3826,"date":"2024-03-26T10:00:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T09:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826"},"modified":"2024-03-15T10:33:09","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T09:33:09","slug":"how-and-why-to-use-vulnerability-an-interdisciplinary-analysis-of-disease-risk-indeterminacy-and-normality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2024\/03\/26\/how-and-why-to-use-vulnerability-an-interdisciplinary-analysis-of-disease-risk-indeterminacy-and-normality\/","title":{"rendered":"How and Why to Use \u2018Vulnerability\u2019: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Disease Risk, Indeterminacy and Normality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article Summary by Andrea Ford<\/strong><\/p>\n

In recent years, you hear a lot about \u2019vulnerability\u2019\u2014for example, during the COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK the idea that some people are more vulnerable than others and should therefore be treated differently came up often. We thought it was interesting how vulnerability seemed to be used interchangeably with risk when, in our opinion, they are really different concepts and should be used differently. We had a series of group discussions about this, specifically among those of us concerned with disease and disease risk, which was challenging because we all come from different disciplinary backgrounds more or less adjacent to medical humanities. We concluded that because disease is often thought about in binary terms\u2014someone is either sick or well, normal or abnormal\u2014vulnerability is a useful concept to break up this binary and talk about all the grey zone in between. This power is diminished when vulnerability is treated as something that can be calculated, quantified, and standardized. Vulnerability is associated with a lot of ambiguity and ambivalence\u2014it is universal but unevenly distributed, it is admirable in some contexts but shameful in others. We call this \u201cindeterminacy\u201d. Rather than making policies that apply standard and universal rules about vulnerability, we argue that policies to protect vulnerable people need to be designed with<\/em> those communities and be variable across contexts\u2014in line with contemporary social justice movements that require non-hierarchical and non-universal approaches to problems and solutions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Listen to the author discuss the article:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read the full article on the Medical Humanities <\/em>journal website<\/strong><\/a>.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"PortraitThis paper is the outcome of a genuinely collective process of reflection and writing, drawing on the authors\u2019 different disciplinary backgrounds. The Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society (CBSS) at the University of Edinburgh enabled us to come together for this project, where we spanned career stages from full professors to visiting scholars to postdoctoral fellows. Andrea Ford, the lead author responsible for the majority of the writing, is a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in cultural and medical anthropology at CBSS where her research explores childbearing, menstruation, endometriosis, and hormones within frames of reproductive, environmental, and social justice. She has worked, taught, and studied at the University of Chicago, University of Ghana, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, FrameWorks Institute, UK NHS, and UK Young Academy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article Summary by Andrea Ford In recent years, you hear a lot about \u2019vulnerability\u2019\u2014for example, during the COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK the idea that some people are more vulnerable than others and should therefore be treated differently came up often. We thought it was interesting how vulnerability seemed to be used interchangeably with risk […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15028],"tags":[15044],"class_list":["post-3826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal-announcements","tag-research"],"yoast_head":"\nHow and Why to Use \u2018Vulnerability\u2019: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Disease Risk, Indeterminacy and Normality - Medical Humanities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Andrea Ford explores the indeterminacy of the concept of vulnerability in today's article summary.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How and Why to Use \u2018Vulnerability\u2019: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Disease Risk, Indeterminacy and Normality - Medical Humanities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Andrea Ford explores the indeterminacy of the concept of vulnerability in today's article summary.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medical Humanities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-26T09:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Pak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Pak\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3826#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3826\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Pak\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c\"},\"headline\":\"How and Why to Use \u2018Vulnerability\u2019: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Disease Risk, Indeterminacy and Normality\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-26T09:00:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3826\"},\"wordCount\":418,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"research\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Journal Announcements\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3826#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3826\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3826\",\"name\":\"How and Why to Use \u2018Vulnerability\u2019: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Disease Risk, Indeterminacy and Normality - Medical Humanities\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-26T09:00:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"Andrea Ford explores the indeterminacy of the concept of vulnerability in today's article summary.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3826#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3826\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?p=3826#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How and Why to Use \u2018Vulnerability\u2019: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Disease Risk, Indeterminacy and Normality\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/\",\"name\":\"Medical Humanities\",\"description\":\"Providing a space for scholarly intervention into the conversation around medicine, as practice and philosophy, as it engages with humanities and arts.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Medical Humanities\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/blog-logo-mh.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/blog-logo-mh.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":34,\"caption\":\"Medical Humanities\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c\",\"name\":\"Chris Pak\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chris Pak\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/blog-team\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/author\\\/chrispak\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How and Why to Use \u2018Vulnerability\u2019: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Disease Risk, Indeterminacy and Normality - Medical Humanities","description":"Andrea Ford explores the indeterminacy of the concept of vulnerability in today's article summary.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How and Why to Use \u2018Vulnerability\u2019: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Disease Risk, Indeterminacy and Normality - Medical Humanities","og_description":"Andrea Ford explores the indeterminacy of the concept of vulnerability in today's article summary.","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826","og_site_name":"Medical Humanities","article_published_time":"2024-03-26T09:00:42+00:00","author":"Chris Pak","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Pak","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826"},"author":{"name":"Chris Pak","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/person\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c"},"headline":"How and Why to Use \u2018Vulnerability\u2019: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Disease Risk, Indeterminacy and Normality","datePublished":"2024-03-26T09:00:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826"},"wordCount":418,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#organization"},"keywords":["research"],"articleSection":["Journal Announcements"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826","name":"How and Why to Use \u2018Vulnerability\u2019: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Disease Risk, Indeterminacy and Normality - Medical Humanities","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-03-26T09:00:42+00:00","description":"Andrea Ford explores the indeterminacy of the concept of vulnerability in today's article summary.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=3826#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How and Why to Use \u2018Vulnerability\u2019: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Disease Risk, Indeterminacy and Normality"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/","name":"Medical Humanities","description":"Providing a space for scholarly intervention into the conversation around medicine, as practice and philosophy, as it engages with humanities and arts.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#organization","name":"Medical Humanities","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2017\/10\/blog-logo-mh.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2017\/10\/blog-logo-mh.png","width":300,"height":34,"caption":"Medical Humanities"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/person\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c","name":"Chris Pak","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chris Pak"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/blog-team\/"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/author\/chrispak\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/345"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}