Papers by Josep M Comelles
Kamchatka. Revista de Análisis Cultural. , 2017
This article describes the evolution of the Catalan Health System, using the development of a key... more This article describes the evolution of the Catalan Health System, using the development of a key cultural concept –hospital-centrism– to understand the hegemony of the hospital institution in the current health devices. To this purpose, and using two complementary perspectives such as anthropological history and medical anthropology, the article analyzes a case study from three examples: the demand for hospital emergencies related with a cultural conception of what is “severe”, and with its effectiveness embodied by the citizens; the need of the asylum role in chronic or terminal diseases; and the transformation of domestic care to “domestic hospitalization” in mental health cases.
The paper is the English translation with a new presentation (Twenty years after) of a paper publ... more The paper is the English translation with a new presentation (Twenty years after) of a paper published in Italian and Spanish in 1996. The aim of the paper was to explore the genealogy of the concept of folk-medicine, that at the end of 19th Century was employed to describe local popular practices about health, disease and care. The concept was developed in late 19th Century in Italy by authors like Zeno Zanetti and Giuseppe Pitrè. Pitrè's role was fondamental to establich mehodological and epistemological rules to describe and organize the research on popular practices and beliefs about health, diesease and ca
Copyright: © 2016 CSIC. Este es un artículo de acceso abierto distribuido bajo los términos de la... more Copyright: © 2016 CSIC. Este es un artículo de acceso abierto distribuido bajo los términos de la licencia Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) España 3.0.
Recibido: 30 enero 2015; Aceptado: 26 junio 2015. Cómo citar este art culo/Citation: Barceló Prat... more Recibido: 30 enero 2015; Aceptado: 26 junio 2015. Cómo citar este art culo/Citation: Barceló Prats, Josep y Josep M. Comelles (2016), " La economía política de los hospitales locales en la Cataluña moderna " , Asclepio 68 (1): p127. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/asclepio.2016.06 RESUMEN: Los hospitales, en Cataluña, se inscribieron desde la Baja Edad Media hasta nuestros días, en un modelo de gobierno específico que dio lugar a la creación y mantenimiento de una densa red de instituciones asistenciales en prácticamente todos los municipios, incluso en los más pequeños, en el marco legal del derecho privado o civil. Dicho modelo tiene sus fundamentos, en primer lugar, en la constatación de cómo los individuos legaban al hospital no sólo por la filantropía o caridad, sino también por la necesidad de aportar algo a la comunidad tras su muerte, en una suerte de consigna destinada a devolver parte de los activos que los testadores habían acumulado durante su vida como instrumento para asegurar la reproducción social de la comunidad. En segundo lugar, se observa que las pequeñas instituciones privadas locales se fusionaron con los hospitales municipales, no así sus activos que continuaron gestionandose por separado de los de las ciudades. En tercer lugar, además de su función de cuidado, el hospital era también un agente económico que operaba de manera similar a los " Monte dei Paschi " italianos. Por consiguiente, el significado de la institución resulta ser más complejo que la simple prestación de servicios asistenciales. Adquirió un valor específico en la identidad de la comunidad, se convirtió en uno de los centros de debate político en la vida pública y adquirió un significado económico y financiero que contribuyó a fortalecer la construcción de la identidad colectiva de los ciudadanos. ABSTRACT: ABSTRACT: The aim of this paper is to highlight how hospitals, in Catalonia since the late Middle Ages to the currently, adopted a governance model which resulted in the creation and preservation of hospitals or care institutions in virtually all municipalities , even in small, whose frame legal was the private or civil law. Firstly, we observed how individuals were motivated not only by philanthropy or charity, but also by a need to contribute something to the community after their death, to give back part of the assets the testators had accumulated during their lifetimes, as citizens who had benefited from their positions. Secondly, we observed that the small local private institutions merged with municipal hospitals, but that their assets were managed separately from those of the town. Third, as well as its care function, the hospital was also an economic agent that operated along similar lines to the Italian " Monte dei Paschi ". It provided loans to working class citizens at a modest rate of interest. The meaning of the institution was found to be more complex than the simple provision of care services. It acquired a specific value in the identity of the community, it became one of the centers of debate in public life and it took on an economic and financial meaning that strengthened the construction of the citizens' collective identity.
The article analyzes the relationship between medicine and anthropology in Italy to highlight the... more The article analyzes the relationship between medicine and anthropology in Italy to highlight the key
role of Tullio Seppilli, one of the founders of the international medical anthropology, from its collaboration with
the “Centro Sperimentale per l’Educazione Sanitaria” in Perugia after World War II. Seppilli, a professional anthropologist,
is located between two intellectual traditions. The first is the development by the medici condotti of
folk medicine studies in Italy in the late nineteenth century and its evolution within the Italian folklore to the concept
of “demologia.” The second, developed after the Second World War, is the political commitment of doctors
and anthropologists for opening a collaborative space between professional anthropology and health education.
The pivotal role of Tullio Seppilli during this period is explored through some articles from his youth in which he
established a dialogue with the new strategies defined by WHO for health interventions in dependent countries.
Selective eating. The rise, meaning and Sense of Personal Dietary Requirements, Mar 2015
A work in progress about the attitedes and criticism of the professionals, mainly doctors and cit... more A work in progress about the attitedes and criticism of the professionals, mainly doctors and citizens about the firts period of the Spanish Francoist insurance (SOE). The paper include also the influence of the SOE in yhe Spanish process of medicalization and the development of an idiosincrasic health, disease and care culture.
Josep M. Comelles and Els van Dongen (eds.) Medical Anthropology and Anthropology, Oct 2001
A discussion about the differences in the development of medical anthropology in Europa and North... more A discussion about the differences in the development of medical anthropology in Europa and North America. A presentation of the two different contexts andf their influence in the development of the field
A short review - in Catalan- of the interest of TV medical shows in medical education, and of its... more A short review - in Catalan- of the interest of TV medical shows in medical education, and of its ethographic value. A part of their content is a good representation of the recent changes in medical practica.
Fainzang, S. and Haxaire, S. (eds.) On bodies and symptoms. Anthropological perspectives of their social and Medical Treatment., 2011
An analysis of the notion of excess, coming from scholastic literature, and its common use in mor... more An analysis of the notion of excess, coming from scholastic literature, and its common use in moral discourses on eating disorders and obesity.
Àngel Martínez-Hernáez, Lina Masana, Susan M. DiGiacomo (eds) Evidencias y narrativas en la atención sanitaria: Una perspectiva antropológica , Jul 4, 2014
The chapter develops a narrative based on the applications, written mainly by women between 1937 ... more The chapter develops a narrative based on the applications, written mainly by women between 1937 and 1938, to jobs at the Catalan Ministery of health. The applications content are such a micro-ethnographies where women talk about their situation and their need to work to contribute to the war. The box 575 of the Arxiu nacional de Catalunya, contents about 120 of these applications (instancias).
A case study about the foundation and evolution of a local hospital in Valls (Catalonia, Spain), ... more A case study about the foundation and evolution of a local hospital in Valls (Catalonia, Spain), from the Middle Ages to the end of 20th Century. The case allows to discuss the social andf cultural meaning of the institutions of care in Catalonia and their political economy.
A colection of papers coming from the Medical Antrhopology at Home II meeting, Perugia 2004
Cuadernos de psiquiatría comunitaria, 2003
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Papers by Josep M Comelles
role of Tullio Seppilli, one of the founders of the international medical anthropology, from its collaboration with
the “Centro Sperimentale per l’Educazione Sanitaria” in Perugia after World War II. Seppilli, a professional anthropologist,
is located between two intellectual traditions. The first is the development by the medici condotti of
folk medicine studies in Italy in the late nineteenth century and its evolution within the Italian folklore to the concept
of “demologia.” The second, developed after the Second World War, is the political commitment of doctors
and anthropologists for opening a collaborative space between professional anthropology and health education.
The pivotal role of Tullio Seppilli during this period is explored through some articles from his youth in which he
established a dialogue with the new strategies defined by WHO for health interventions in dependent countries.
role of Tullio Seppilli, one of the founders of the international medical anthropology, from its collaboration with
the “Centro Sperimentale per l’Educazione Sanitaria” in Perugia after World War II. Seppilli, a professional anthropologist,
is located between two intellectual traditions. The first is the development by the medici condotti of
folk medicine studies in Italy in the late nineteenth century and its evolution within the Italian folklore to the concept
of “demologia.” The second, developed after the Second World War, is the political commitment of doctors
and anthropologists for opening a collaborative space between professional anthropology and health education.
The pivotal role of Tullio Seppilli during this period is explored through some articles from his youth in which he
established a dialogue with the new strategies defined by WHO for health interventions in dependent countries.
Este libro colectivo parte de la necesidad de evaluar la importancia que la etnografía tuvo y tiene para la medicina a través de un case-study: Cataluña. En primer lugar se realiza una revisión de naturaleza historiográfica sobre la etnografía del proceso de salud, enfermedad y atención en Cataluña desde el siglo XIX hasta mediados del siglo XX. En segundo lugar, una serie de estudios analizan las múltiples facetas de la folk medicina en la Cataluña actual. En tercer lugar, se abordan fuentes, a menudo ignoradas, procedentes de obras literarias, prensa periódica y documentos visuales que permiten abordajes etnográficos de la práctica médica. Finalmente, el libro se plantea la proyección de futuro de la folk medicina tanto en el campo de la investigación básica como en el de las actividades de difusión del patrimonio.
to call television the silly box. The box has grown up and it has become a mirror with which we talk, day in and day out, a kind of invisible friend that is a companion for our loneliness and watches over our discomforts (also defining and identifying them). Thus, our aim is to investigate medical dramas that cannot be reduced to the status of entertainment, even in cases where representations are less compelling. Boundaries between fiction and reality are porous and so require caution. Little rigorous productions with a simplistic language can have a much higher impact, also for teaching, than much more sophisticated narratives located on the boundaries of
documentary films. However, ethnographic approaches applied to medical dramas opens research perspectives regarding the construction of health, disease and care processes as well as concerning personal and collective experiences. Such approach has, from many points of view, a cognitive and educational function that creates reflections and debates, while allows
criticizing and interpreting the health context in which we live. If it is difficult for anyone to become Jack Bauer or Admiral Adama, all viewers of medical dramas bump into a reality that can be ours, as health professionals and as patients. So we recognize Gregory House or Nurse Jackie or features of hospitals and Primary Care Centers where we go.