PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Michelle Pentecost TI - Field notes in the clinic: on medicine, anthropology and pedagogy in South Africa AID - 10.1136/medhum-2018-011473 DP - 2018 Dec 01 TA - Medical Humanities PG - e1--e1 VI - 44 IP - 4 4099 - http://mh.bmj.com/content/44/4/e1.short 4100 - http://mh.bmj.com/content/44/4/e1.full SO - J Med Humanit2018 Dec 01; 44 AB - This commentary is about medicine, anthropology and pedagogy: about the ways of knowing that different disciplinary orientations permit. I draw on a field note taken in the clinic to illustrate how cultures of healthcare and health sciences training in South Africa bracket the historical, social and political contexts of health and illness in this setting, at the expense of patient care and physician wellbeing. I consider what anthropological inquiry can offer to clinical practice, and advocate for critical orientations to clinical work and teaching that extend humanity to patients and providers.