Paper short abstract:

I will talk about the cooperation between anthropologists from University of Warsaw and doctors and students of Warsaw Medical University engaged in the research project on social aspects of Turner Syndrome - a genetic condition that affects girls and women involving absence of the X chromosome.

Paper long abstract:

I will talk about the cooperation between anthropologists from the Childhood Studies Interdisciplinary Research Team at the University of Warsaw and doctors and students of Warsaw Medical University engaged in the research project titled "Turner Syndrome. Socialization patterns and the management of the embodiment in chronic disease. An interdisciplinary approach", and I will reflect upon its benefits and limitations. Turner Syndrome (TS) is a condition that affects girls and women involving partial or complete absence of the X chromosome. On the one hand, it is a well recognized medical diagnosis, on the other - a multidimensional cultural fact that manifests itself in specific historical, social and geographical contexts. TS is characterized by short stature, ovarian failure, frequent cardiovascular complications and other medical problems. Through daily growth hormone injections and compulsory regular checkups, one's life story develops an extended connection with biomedicine.

In our project we tried to abandon the clear (and artificial) boundaries between medicine and anthropology, between illness and disease. This meant that doctors, patients (and their parents), and anthropologists served as elements of a wider network (obviously many more human and non-human actors create socio-medical situations) as they shared the same goal and needed each other. All were mediators: anthropologists - between patients and doctors, doctors - between patients and anthropologists, patients - between anthropologists and medical staff. In the TS project, the results of the encounter between medicine and humanities are among others social guidelines for doctors and people working with TS girls and women.