Paper short abstract:

Drawing from fieldwork in a northern Chinese prosthetic company, the study borrows the metaphor of bricolage to analyse the prosthetists' work, when they navigate the need for personalized solutions in a diverse landscape from available resources and respond to social-cultural challenges.

Paper long abstract:

In the realm of biotechnology-driven limb prosthetics, the intricate relationship between individuals and their prosthetists unfolds as a nuanced dance of expertise and embodiment. Prosthetists, possessing a unique amalgamation of biomedical and engineering knowledge, navigate a landscape where each patient’s physical uniqueness demands personalized solutions. In this interdisciplinary field, expertise is not derived solely from laboratories but is intricately interwoven with the prosthetists’ experiential insights.

This study delves into the multifaceted world of prosthetics within the distinctive socio-cultural context of China. Beyond the conventional roles of doctors or engineers, prosthetists emerge as bricoleurs, crafting solutions from available resources and responding to social-cultural challenges. Drawing on fieldwork within a northern Chinese prosthetic company, this research explores prosthetists’ practices through the lens of bricolage.

The analysis unfolds in three dimensions. First, improvisation plays a pivotal role as prosthetists constantly redefine tools and methods to make do with "what's available", deviating at times from established guidelines, to accommodate the heterogeneity of materials and bodies. Second, the organizational order of materials becomes dynamic. When materials often interact with each other, creating results that the prosthetists cannot foresee, he/she must react to the results appropriately. A case study involving the application of carbon-fibre illustrates the pragmatic selection of materials over mere popularity. Finally, prosthetists’ tinkering with prosthetics is often experimental and unpredictable with success often manifesting itself as a serendipitous event. Try, succeed, try again...it is in this cycle that prosthetists figure out patterns that are difficult to replicate.