Regions, Networks and Fluids: Anaemia and Social Topology
Open accessAbstract
This is a paper about the topological presuppositions that frame the performance of social similarity and difference. It argues that `the social' does not exist as a single spatial type, but rather performs itself in a recursive and topologically heterogeneous manner. Using material drawn from a study of the way in which tropical doctors handle anaemia, it explores three different social topologies. First, there are `regions' in which objects are clustered together, and boundaries are drawn round each cluster. Second, there are `networks' in which distance is a function of relations between elements, and difference a matter of relational variety. These two forms of spatiality are often mobilized in social theory. However, we argue that there are other kinds of social space, and here consider the possible character of a third, that of `fluid spatiality'. In this, places are neither delineated by boundaries, nor linked through stable relations: instead, entities may be similar and dissimilar at different locations within fluid space. In addition, they may transform themselves without creating difference.
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Treatment of Severe Anaemia in Children in a Rural Hospital
Dorward, J. A., Knowles, J. K., & Dorward, I. M. (1989) · Tropical Doctor · doi:10.1177/004947558901900404 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
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Redclift, M. (2005) · Sustainable Development · doi:10.1002/sd.281 · Cited by 951 · see citing works
Achieving Transparency: The Visible, Invisible and Divisible in Academic Accountability Networks
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“how it was ‘performed’), translated and reproduced in various sites and settings [55] and the different meanings it embodied for different people, at different times and locations [56].”
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- Authors
- Mol, A., & Law, J.
- Affiliations
- Department of Philosophy, University of Limburg, Postbus 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Keele University (GB)
- ORCID
- Mol, Annemarie
- Venue
- Social Studies of Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1994-11
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 641-671
- ISSN
- 0036-8539 (ISSN-L)
- 0306-3127
- 1460-3659
- OpenAlex
- W2014991536
- Cited by
- 1,106
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 81 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 46 · 2018: 41 · 2017: 49 · 2016: 62 · 2015: 41 · 2014: 48 · 2013: 57 · 2012: 52
- FWCI
- 25.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- research.utwente.nl
- Locations
- Social Studies of Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Twente Research Information (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Geography, Planning and Development › Spatial and Cultural Studies
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Anthropological Studies and Insights
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice
- Keywords
- social topology, anemia, tropical medicine, regionalism, social networks, boundaries, relationality, social space, medical geography
- MeSH terms
- Anemia, Humans, Ecosystem, History, 20th Century
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