Contours of coping: mapping the subject world of long-term illness

Medical geography has Evolved from studying 'dots on maps to embodied subje cts'. Involving the acknowledgement of new territories and identities, this has taken place against a backdrop of wider shifts in understanding health and illness. This paper suggests geographers are well placed to develop th eir existing skills of spatial exploration in order to map out these new te rritories. Whilst 'the map' has recently suffered from bad press, as a sele ctive, misleading representation, this paper demonstrates it can be resurre cted as a less sinister tool to aid our understanding of situated health ex periences. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.