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"We Act Like Police Detectives": Changing Regimes of Care in Public Health Clinics
Abstract
Public health clinics have long been important sites for data collection for the oversight of individuals and populations in Turkey. While the earlier periods relied on decentralized, paper-based mechanisms, the 2000s have witnessed a mushrooming of centralized, digital health technologies, mainly to track reproductive behaviors. Based on two years of ethnographic research in 2014-2017, this paper analyzes the changing regimes of care in state-run medical spaces with the introduction of new technologies. Taking its cue from analogies coming from nurse narratives, such as “acting like police detectives,” the paper argues that these regimes are always already entangled with both intimacy and violence, especially for marginalized communities.
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Turkey
Sub Area
Gender/Women's Studies