Body, Self, Device: Nonhuman Objects and Human Identity

Abstract

In this dissertation, I examine the social world of deep brain stimulation and its use in the treatment of people with movement disorders, including Parkinson's Disease, Essential Tremor, and Dystonia. Through ethnography, in-depth interviews, and document analysis, I track the biomedical, social, and interactive processes that lead patients to seek and accept deep brain stimulation treatment. I then follow patients as they learn to live with their devices, and track the way these devices impact relations with self and other. I also compare the use of this technology to cardiac pacemaker devices. I found that many patients integrate their device into self, making the technology transparent, mundane, and unremarkable.