Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Sociological Analysis of Unconventional Forms of Healing in Argentina

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SES_0623455PI(s): Peter Conrad Betina FreidinInstitution: Brandeis UniversityThis dissertation research investigates the local construction and experience of unconventional medical knowledge that has migrated cross-nationally by addressing the case of acupuncture practice and consumption in Argentina. Argentina is a particularly relevant national context in which to examine these processes due to medical doctors' long-term incorporation of the therapy, the lack of licensing procedures for non-biomedical practitioners and, since 2001, the legal framework excluding non-physicians from legal practice, which has been contested. The broader goal of the study is to examine the local institutionalization of unconventional medical practices by focusing on how legitimacy, efficacy, and authority are claimed and accomplished by their practitioners and the users' health care seeking experience when encountering acupuncture in various therapeutic environments. The study addresses the following research questions: (1) what are the practitioners' ideologies about how acupuncture should be practiced, (2) how do these commitments inform their professional projects and styles of practice? And given the current professional, legal, and institutional divides in acupuncture practice; (3) how do users make meaning of acupuncture treatments as delivered in diverse therapeutic contexts? and (4) what are their criteria for allocating credibility to practitioners and their treatments? The study employs qualitative methods: open-ended, in-depth interviews with practitioners and users, observations in clinical settings, and analysis of documents. Fieldwork will be conducted in the cities of Buenos Aires and Tucuman, building upon preliminary research carried out in 2005. This dissertation research will illuminate processes of change within the medical profession as well as external challenges to established medical authority in a global context, contributing in this way to the broader fields of medical sociology and the sociologies of knowledge and the professions as well as interdisciplinary debates on cultural globalization. Broader Impact: The results of the study will be disseminated in conferences and academic publications, including English and Spanish language journals. Given the teaching appointment that the researcher will have at the University of Buenos Aires when the study is complete, the study will provide the opportunity to train students in the sociology of CAM, which is not part of the undergraduate program, promoting the enrichment of academic institutions. The study will also contribute to the public debate on unconventional medicines that have been on the rise in the country through publications in widely accessible public media. Given the availability of acupuncture in public services, it will make visible patterns of consumption among lower income users, thus broadening the knowledge about a social group that has been underrepresented in the international literature on the utilization of CAM.