The Medicine & Its Objects Workshop Presents:
“Medicina Crítica: Critical Care in Critical Times in Buenos Aires”
Presenter: Livia Garofalo | Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology, Northwestern University
Discussant: Talia Gordon | Ph.D. Candidate, Comparative Human Development, University of Chicago
Wednesday, April 27th from 4:30-6:00pm CT
Cobb 119 & Zoom
To RSVP and receive a copy of the pre-circulated paper or Zoom link, or to request any accommodations, please email mmacgregor@uchicago.edu
Abstract: Drawing on 15 months of research in public hospital ICUs in Buenos Aires, Argentina, this paper examines how “medicina crítica” (critical care), works and fails for physicians, families, and patients. I show how the Intensive Care Unit becomes the stage for clinical uncertainty, expert tinkering, and critical care as well as a lens into the unfolding of financial instability and economic unpredictability. In particular, I illuminate how medical personnel combine improvisation, creativity, and commitment to deliver state-funded care, especially during a year of economic recession and severe currency devaluation in Mauricio Macri’s Argentina. By taking criticality as a central metaphor, the paper examines parallels between critical care and the critical state of the Argentine economy, a narrative reinforced by media that frames the Argentine nation being “on a ventilator” or on the verge of “organ failure.” Ultimately, I argue that diagnoses of failure and success of critical patients map onto national analyses of economic and political uncertainty.
