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

SES_0623455PI：Peter Conrad Betina Freidin机构：布兰代斯大学本论文研究调查当地的建设和经验的非常规医学知识，已迁移到跨国解决的情况下，针灸的实践和消费在阿根廷。阿根廷是审查这些进程的一个特别相关的国家背景，因为医生长期采用这种疗法，缺乏非生物医学从业人员的许可证程序，而且自2001年以来，法律的框架将非医生排除在法律的执业之外，这一点一直受到质疑。这项研究的更广泛的目标是通过关注他们的从业者和用户在各种治疗环境中遇到针灸时的医疗保健寻求经验如何声称和实现合法性，有效性和权威性，来检查当地非常规医疗实践的制度化。本研究提出以下研究问题：（1）针灸从业者对针灸应该如何实践的意识形态是什么？（2）这些承诺如何影响他们的专业项目和实践风格？并鉴于目前的专业，法律的，并在针灸实践机构划分;（3）用户如何使针灸治疗的意义，在不同的治疗环境中交付？以及（4）他们对从业者及其治疗方法分配可信度的标准是什么？ 该研究采用定性方法：开放式，深入采访从业者和用户，在临床环境中的观察，并分析文件。将在2005年初步研究的基础上，在布宜诺斯艾利斯和图库曼两个城市开展实地工作。本论文的研究将阐明医疗行业内部的变化过程以及在全球范围内建立医疗权威的外部挑战，从而为医学社会学和知识社会学的更广泛领域做出贡献，以及对文化全球化的跨学科辩论。更广泛的影响：研究结果将在会议和学术出版物，包括英文和西班牙文期刊上传播。鉴于研究人员在研究完成后将在布宜诺斯艾利斯大学任教，这项研究将提供机会对学生进行CAM社会学培训，这不是本科课程的一部分，促进学术机构的丰富。这项研究还将通过在大众媒体上发表文章，促进关于非传统药物的公开辩论，这些药物在该国一直在增加。鉴于针灸在公共服务中的可用性，它将使低收入用户的消费模式可见，从而扩大了对一个社会群体的知识，这个群体在关于CAM利用的国际文献中代表性不足。

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.