Disorder and Diagnosis

Laura Frances Goffman is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

"Goffman's new book Disorder and Diagnosis is an impressive and compassionate study of the historical changes and continuities in the lives of ordinary people in modern Arabian society that came with medical interventions between the late nineteenth century and the oil boom of 1973." —Beverly Tsacoyianis, History: Reviews of New Books --- "Laura Frances Goffman's Disorder and Diagnosis is an important new contribution to the field of the history of medicine and disease in the Middle East. Its strength lies not only in the gaps it fills in our understanding of the medical history of the Arabian Peninsula, but also in its methodological sophistication." —Pallavi Das, Review of Middle East Studies --- "Disorder and Diagnosis should be a 'must-read' on every reading list dealing with the Arabian Peninsula, with the social history of the Middle East, and, last but not least, with women and gender in the Arab world." —Nora Derbal, Journal of Arabian Studies --- "Laura Frances Goffman's Disorder and Diagnosis: Health and the Politics of Everyday Life in Modern Arabia is an important addition to the growing body of literature on the history of health, medicine, and disease in the modern Middle East. Importantly, Goffman's book... reframes the modern history of the Gulf in ways that raise issues that are relevant to broader debates in the global history of health, medicine, and disease." —Isacar Bolaños, H-Sci-Med-Tech --- "[A] compelling work that fills a notable lacuna in the historiography of medicine, empire, and state formation in the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf. The book is elegantly argued and offers a rich and multilayered analysis of how medicine operated as a tool of imperial control and a site of local resistance and negotiation. Disorder and Diagnosis is an indispensable resource for scholars and students alike." —Sara Farhan, American Historical Review --- "Laura Goffman takes us on a medical tour across the Gulf region and centers the experiences of everyday people in a clear, cogent, and captivating narrative. Challenging nationalist historiographies,showing a rich panorama of approaches to health, this is a brilliant addition to the history of medicine, disease, and the body in the modern Middle East." —Beth Baron, The City University of New York --- "Disorder and Diagnosis is a pioneering social history of the Arabian littoral of the Persian Gulf. Laura Goffman convincingly demonstrates that disease and public health were central to political projects and imaginaries, and illustrates how medical history is an illuminating lens to trace mobility and connectivity even prior to the oil boom of the 1970s." —Arang Keshavarzian, New York University --- "Laura Goffman's exemplary work achieves a bottom-up narrative of healthcare and disease and a multifaceted history of medicine as experienced by patients and practitioners alike. Analyzing together gender, labor, migration, traditional healing, and scientific experimentation, Disorder and Diagnosis is essential reading for any historian." —Elise Burton, University of Toronto