In 2001, Thailand introduced universal health care reforms that have
become some of the most celebrated in the world, providing almost its
entire population with health protection coverage. However, this
remarkable implementation of health policy is not without its
weaknesses. Drawing on two years of fieldwork at a district hospital in
northern Thailand, Bo Kyeong Seo examines how people in marginal and
dependent social positions negotiate the process of obtaining care.
Using the broader concept of elicitation, Seo analyzes the social
encounters and forces that shape caregivers. These dynamics challenge
dichotomies of subjugation and resistance, consent and coercion, and
dependence and autonomy. The intimate and moving stories at the core of
Eliciting Care from patients and providers draw attention to a
broader, critically important phenomenon at the hospital level. Seo's
poignant ethnography engages with feminist theory on the ethics of care,
and in so doing, makes a significant contribution to emerging work in
the field of health policy and politics.