Constructing Menopause Knowledge through Socio-Material Practices

Abstract

Constructivist critiques of the concept of menopause as hormone deficiency argue that menopause is a social construction, saturated with political and professional concerns. Extending this critique, I employ an interactionist science studies approach focussing on generating knowledge through practices. Locating the analysis in the menopause clinic, several key practices ofthe clinic are examined to show how the particular understanding of menopause as hormone deficiency is constructed and generated through the working of these practices. Focussing on these socio-material practices and interactions reveals how this particular understanding of menopause is shaped and stabilised. Directing attention to how particular knowledge claims come about makes visible that these are only one of many possible outcomes, thus opening up potential reconstructions of both current practices and prevailing knowledge claims.