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Monica Greco BA MA PhD

Staff details

Monica Greco BA MA PhD

Position

Visiting Professor

Department

Sociology

Email

m.greco (@gold.ac.uk)

Monica Greco works at the intersections of social science and the history and philosophy of medicine.

Monica Greco works at the intersections of social science and the history and philosophy of medicine. The focus of her research is on psychosomatic medicine, and on modes of thought and practice that seek to address the consequences of epistemic dualism for health, medical practice, and society. She is currently conducting participant observation as part of a clinical research team investigating novel interventions for patients with 'medically unexplained symptoms' in primary care.

Monica is a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, and welcomes enquiries about the Feodor Lynen programme.

Monica studied History (BA) and Critical Theory (MA) at the University of Sussex before gaining her PhD in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute in 1996. She has taught across all levels at Goldsmiths since joining the College in 1996, and was Director of Postgraduate Research (PhD programmes) before taking on her current role of Head of Department.

Teaching and supervision

Monica welcomes PhD supervision inquiries in all areas relating to her research interests, both empirical and theoretical (see summary). This broadly includes the study of knowledge practices in medicine and psychiatry; uncertain and contested illnesses; neurodiversity; concepts of health/disease/disability; life and the problematic of vitalism.

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Research interests

Monica's research interests include the social and political dimensions of (medical and psychiatric) nomenclature, classification, diagnosis; concepts of health, illness, and therapeutics, particularly in relation to the construction of subjectivities and problems of (self-)governance; medical humanities; the concept of 'life', vitalism, arts of life; dynamics of change and transformation across bio, psycho, and social levels.

Theoretically, Monica is interested in the relevance of process, empirical, and speculative philosophies for social research on health, illness, and medicine, especially the works of Michel Foucault, Isabelle Stengers, A. N. Whitehead, William James. She also has a special interest in the thought of Georges Canguilhem and of Viktor von Weizsaecker.

Featured publications

Publications and research outputs

Book

Fraser, Mariam and Greco, Monica. 2004. The Body: A Reader. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-34007-6

Edited Book

Mixa, Emma; Pritz, Sarah; Tumeltshammer, Markus and Greco, Monica, eds. 2016. Un-Wohl-Gefühle: Eine Kulturanalyse gegenwärtiger Befindlichkeiten. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag. ISBN 978-3-83762630-8

Greco, Monica and Stenner, Paul, eds. 2008. Emotions: a social science reader. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-42564-3

Edited Journal

Stenner, Paul; Greco, Monica and Motzkau, Johanna, eds. 2017. Liminal Hotspots, Theory and Psychology, 27(2). 0959-3543

Book Section

Greco, Monica and Savransky, Martin. 2018. Foucault's Subjectivities. In: Lisa Downing, ed. After Foucault: Culture, Theory, and Criticism in the 21st Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316506042

Greco, Monica. 2017. Thinking with outrageous propositions. In: Alex Wilkie; Martin Savransky and Marsha Rosengarten, eds. Speculative Research: The Lure of Possible Futures. London & New York: Routledge, pp. 218-227. ISBN 1138688363

Greco, Monica. 2017. Zur Vitalitaet des Vitalismus. In: M Muhle and C Voss, eds. Black Box Leben. Berlin: August Verlag, pp. 39-57. ISBN 978-3-941360-44-0

Article

Mooney, Cara; White, David Alexander; Dawson, Jeremy; Deary, Vincent; Fryer, Kate; Greco, Monica; Horspool, Michelle; Neilson, Aileen; Rowlands, Gillian; Sanders, Tom; Thomas, Ruth E; Thomas, Steve; Waheed, Waquas and Burton, Christopher D. 2022. Study protocol for the Multiple Symptoms Study 3: a pragmatic, randomised controlled trial of a clinic for patients with persistent (medically unexplained) physical symptoms. BMJ Open, 12, e066511. ISSN 2044-6055

Greco, Monica. 2021. Vitalism Now – A Problematic. Theory, Culture & Society, 38(2), pp. 47-69. ISSN 0263-2764

Bell, Vaughan; Wilkinson, Sam; Greco, Monica; Hendrie, Callum; Mills, Ben and Deeley, Quinton. 2020. What is the functional/organic distinction actually doing in psychiatry and neurology? [version 1; peer review: 3 approved]. Wellcome Open Research, 5(138), pp. 1-19. ISSN 2398-502X