ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to rearrange that space by considering the state of histories and historiography within the study of the discourses of health and medicine. It describes how some obstacles to historical work are being removed and suggest some ways of incorporating historical work into the ongoing conversations of the rhetoric of health & medicine. The chapter considers its value in framing discourses of health and medicine, which includes what is typically understood as history as well as the employment of historiographic methods to situate the present as a historical moment. It demonstrates not only that rhetorical histories are important works for research on the discourses of health and medicine, but also that the connection between histories and historiography should not be overlooked. Historical work can demonstrate that patient voices were prominent and powerful in defining medicine, health, and illness, throwing into sharp relief how heavily confined and framed patient discourse is today.
