Annemarie Mol is professor of Anthropology of the Body. In her work she
combines the ethnographic study of practices with the task of shifting our
theoretical repertoires.  Her most important research lines to date:

The words - language as practice

Saying 'lekker' (in Dutch) is not quite the same as saying 'tasty' or
'delicious' (in English) and both these terms differ from 'nice'. A lot
may be learned from attending in detail to words, their contexts and
their effects.  

The object - multiplicity

Objects of knowledge may be understood as focal points of different
perspectives. But it is also possible to trace how they are being handled
(sliced, questioned, coloured, cooked up) in varied knowledge
practices. If we do the latter, then it appears that objects-in-practice
(say 'anaemia', 'atherosclerosis', or 'body') tend to come in many
versions. These versions are both different and interdependent: multiple. 

The process - care

Decision trees suggest linear ways of working where one thing follows
from and after the other. However, in many practices, care practices
included, time is not an arrow and entities are not brought into being

just once, but keep on changing. Rather than fitting fantasies of control,

such processes depend on endless tinkering. Such tinkering, if done
well, is care.

The site - topologies

Everything happens somewhere. And then things travel between places.
But in which kind of space to situate events, techniques and objects?
There are various topological figures to consider, such as regions,
networks, fluids and fires. They each order and allow for travel,
boundaries, similarity and difference - differently.

The engagement - eating as relating

What happens if we take 'eating' as a model of what it is to know, to act
and/or to relate? This is the research project that Mol currently works on
with the Eating Bodies in Practice and Theory team. As a part of this
project we take a fresh look at what it is to eat. What, in practice, are
tasting, digesting, wasting, thriving, appreciating? What kind of relations
between organisms does 'eating' craft and encourage? What is 'an eating
body' and where does it begin and end? How does 'eating' enduringly
change the world? 

Work

2010-            Professor Anthropology of the Body, University of Amsterdam

2008-2010    Socrates Professor Social Theory, Humanism & Materiality, University of Amsterdam, 1 day a week

1996-2008    Socrates Professor Political Philosophy, University of Twente, 1 day a week

1996-2009    Senior researcher on grants from NWO & Zon/Mw, University of Twente, 4 days a week

1990-1995    Post-doc on a Constantijn & Christiaan Huygens Grant NWO Maastricht University & University of Utrecht

1984-1989    Junior researcher, Philosophy, Universiteit Groningen

Education

1989              PhD Philosophy, University of Groningen
1985              Political Science, First Year Exams, University of Amsterdam
1984              Postdoctoral course Sociology of Care, University of Amsterdam
1982/3           Postdoctoral Anthropology, Sociology & Philosophy seminars in Paris
1982              Masters Philosophy, University of Utrecht
1982              Masters Medicine, Free Program, University of Utrecht, cum laude
1976              Gymnasium B, Coriovallum College, Heerlen
 

Other

2006-            Member of the Social Scientific Council of the Royal Academy of Sciences

Prizes

2004             Ludwig Fleck Book Prize of the Society for the Social Studies of Science for The Body Multiple
2004             The Sociology of Health and Illness Book Prize  for TheBody Multiple
1990             Dr. R.J. van Helsdingen prize of the Dutch Society for Psychiatry and Philosophy for Ziek is het Woord niet

Grants

2010-2015     ERC Advanced Grant: The Eating Body in Western Practice and Theory
2011-2014     ORA Grant: Memorials and remains of medical research in Africa
2005-2009     Ethics, Research & Policy, NWO: Good food, good information
2001-2004     ZonMw: The two faces of patient autonomy
2000-2004     Ethics & Policy NWO: Genres of good care in psychiatry
1996 -2000    Ethics & Policy NWO: Norms incorporated. Technology and the good life
1990-1995    Constantijn & Christiaan Huijgens Grant NWO: Differences in Medicine

Care in Practice (eds with Ingunn Moser & Jeannette Pols)

In what way is »care« a matter of »tinkering«? Rather than presenting care
as a (preferably »warm«) relation between human beings, the various
contributions to the volume give the material world (usually cast as »cold«)
a prominent place in their analysis. Thus, this book does not continue to
oppose care and technology, but contributes to rethinking both in such a
way that they can be analysed together.

The Logic of Care

What is good care? In this innovative and compelling book, Annemarie
Mol, analysing care practices for and by people with diabetes, argues

 that good care has little to do with 'patient choice'. Instead, it

 depends on jointly, attentively, adapting bodies, technologies and daily life               

 to each other. Again and again, until the day we die.

Other versions

The Body Multiple

The Body Multiple is an extraordinary ethnography of an ordinary disease.
Drawing on fieldwork in a Dutch university hospital, Annemarie Mol looks
at the day-to-day diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis. A patient
information leaflet might describe atherosclerosis as the gradual obstruction
of the arteries, but in hospital practice this one medical condition appears
to be many other things as well. The book explores the work invested in

making different versions of reality hang together.

Complexities (ed with John Law)

Much recent social science and humanities work has been a
revolt against simplification. This volume explores the contrast between
simplicity and complexity to reveal that this dichotomy, itself, is too
simplistic. John Law and Annemarie Mol have gathered a distinguished
panel of contributors who offer empirical case studies that theorise

 simplicity/complexity.

Differences in Medicine (ed with Marc Berg)

Western medicine-especiallyincontrast with non-Western traditions of
medical practice-is widely thought of as a coherent and unified field in
which beliefs, definitions, and judgments are shared. Marc Berg and
Annemarie Mol debunk this myth with an interdisciplinary andintercultural
collection of essays that reveals the significantly variedwayspractitioners
of "conventional" Western medicine handle bodies, study testresults,
configure statistics, and converse with patients. 

Ziek is het woord niet (with Peter van Lieshout)

Taal verandert snel. Dat geldt ook voor de taal waarmee in de veertig jaar
na de Tweede Wereldoorlog in de Nederlandse huisartsgeneeskunde en
geestelijke volksgezondheid gepraat en geschreven is over de mensen die
er hulp zochten (patiënten of klanten), de zaken die ze aandroegen
(ziekten, problemen, hulpvragen), de verbanden waar ze deel van
uitmaakten (volk, klasse, populatie) en ga zo maar door. Dit boek
analyseert veranderingen in de taal die tussen 1945 en 1985 werd gebruikt
in Nederlandstalige professionele tijdschriften.