Negotiating the Holistic Turn

Judith Fadlon

Description

Alternative medicine, once an anti-establishment outsider, has enjoyed such growing popularity in recent years that it has generated a new medical industry, complete with adherents, practitioners, researchers, lobbyists, and regulations. As it has grown, alternative medicine has gradually assumed a different position in the provision of health care. Combining ethnographic study with quantitative data, Judith Fadlon explains the popularity of alternative medicine, as well as the ease with which individuals now move between conventional and alternative medicine and between different alternative modalities. She concludes that alternative medicine has been undergoing domestication, a process by which the foreign is rendered familiar. Although the focus of the study is urban Israel, it is argued that domestication is a major force at work in a number of Western countries.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Biomedical Culture Revisited
Outline of the Book

1. Conceptualizing NCM

Approaches in the History of NCM Research
Domestication: Making Sense of Medicine
Acculturation and Assimilation
Domestication and the Flow of Culture

2. Setting the Scene: NCM in Israel

The Legal Status of NCM in Israel
NCM Institutions in Israel
Methodological Considerations

3. Negotiation: The NCM Clinic

The Clinic and its Boundaries
How the Clinic Worked
The Staff
Case Presentations

4. The Patients: Group Profile and Patterns of Use

Cultural Outlook and the Use of NCM
Sociodemographic Characteristics and Health Problems
Patients' Attitudes toward Biomedicine
Cultural Outlook and Practices
The Convergence of Statistics and Ethnography

5. Dissemination: The Popular Discourse of NCM

Interprofessional Discourse in the Public Arena
The Narrative Formula of Dissemination
Magic Moments
Deus ex Machina—Bio Medicine as the Organizing Principle
Conventional Medicine Fights Back
Horror Stories

6. Institutionalization: The NCM College

Introductory Lecture for Potential Students
The Yearbook
The Oriental Medicine Curriculum
The College Bulletin

7. Conclusion: Familiarizing the Exotic

Domestication: Clinic, College, Media, and Patients
Local Findings—Global Implications?
Why Domestication? The Interplay between Biomedical
Hegemony and Consumerist Demand
The "Other" Appropriated and the "Other" Rejected
NCM and the Postmodern Body

Appendix: NCM Modalities Available at the Clinic

Notes

References

Index

Sujets

• Complementary Medicine
• Sociology
• Alternative medicine

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791483947
• Langue: English

Extrait

Negotiating the Holistic Turn

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Negotiating the Holistic Turn

The Domestication of Alternative Medicine

J UDITH  F ADLON

State University of New York Press

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2005 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Fadlon, Judith, 1955– Negotiating the holistic turn : the domestication of alternative medicine / Judith Fadlon. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-6315-X (alk. paper) 1. Alternative medicine—Israel. 2. Holistic medicine—Israel. I. Title. R733.F344 2005 615.5'095694—dc22 2004042990

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This book is for Gedi

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Acknowledgments

Contents

Introduction Biomedical Culture Revisited Outline of the Book

Chapter 1. Conceptualizing NCM Approaches in the History of NCM Research Domestication: Making Sense of Medicine Acculturation and Assimilation Domestication and the Flow of Culture

Chapter 2. Setting the Scene: NCM in Israel The Legal Status of NCM in Israel NCM Institutions in Israel Methodological Considerations

Chapter 3. Negotiation: The NCM Clinic The Clinic and Its Boundaries How the Clinic Worked The Staff Case Presentations

Chapter 4. The Patients: Group Profile and Patterns of Use Cultural Outlook and the Use of NCM Sociodemographic Characteristics and Health Problems Patients’ Attitudes toward Biomedicine Cultural Outlook and Practices The Convergence of Statistics and Ethnography

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Contents

Chapter 5. Dissemination: The Popular Discourse of NCM Interprofessional Discourse in the Public Arena The Narrative Formula of Dissemination Magic Moments Deus ex Machina—Bio Medicine as the Organizing Principle Conventional Medicine Fights Back Horror Stories

Chapter 6. Institutionalization: The NCM College Introductory Lecture for Potential Students The Yearbook The Oriental Medicine Curriculum The College Bulletin

Chapter 7. Conclusion: Familiarizing the Exotic Domestication: Clinic, College, Media, and Patients Local Findings—Global Implications? Why Domestication? The Interplay between Biomedical Hegemony and Consumerist Demand The “Other” Appropriated and the “Other” Rejected NCM and the Postmodern Body

Appendix: NCM Modalities Available at the Clinic Notes References Index

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Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge a number of individuals who have con- tributed to my thinking and to this book in particular I am indebted to Professor Haim Hazan for his intellectual contri- bution to my work and especially for his kindness, enthusiasm, and encouragement as I progressed from one stage to the next. I would like to thank Professor Yehouda Shenhav for his support and for gener- ously allowing me time to write, and Professor Noah Lewin-Epstein for his contribution at the outset of this project. I also thank Professor Rivka Carmi for her commitment to research and her agenda to sup- port women scholars. My research on alternative medicine has allowed me the privilege of working through my ideas with members of vari- ous disciplines. In this capacity, I thank my father, Dr. Gerald Shapiro, for deconstructing boundaries between disciplines, and Professor Shmuel Eidelman for his thoughtful remarks on the reconstruction of those boundaries. Professor Shimon Glick, Professor Micky Weingarten, Professor Carmi Margolis, Dr. Shai Pintov, and Dr. Menachem Oberbaum were exceedingly generous in sharing knowledge, experi- ence, and opinions. Even though we did not always agree, our chal- lenging conversations are undoubtedly reflected in my work. Ayal Hassidim, who will one day be a healer, has my gratitude for his editorial assistance, and I thank Ilan Roziner for his statistical advice and his rare ability to help me combine ethnography and statistics. I owe special appreciation to the director, staff, and patients of the clinic where I conducted my fieldwork. I am unable to thank them in name in order to protect the anonymity of the clinic. Thank you. Beyond the intellectual contribution I have gratefully received in this endeavor, I am indebted to my family for the love, support and indeed, at times, tolerance they have shown. I am obliged to my mother, Sybil, for insisting there is a world outside my study. I thank my partner, Gedi, and my children Thor and Shiri for showing me that world. My friend, Mercia Hazan, has my gratitude for the invaluable sense of humor and perspective that she brings to our friendship.

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