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

SE_0623455PI(S)：Peter Conrad Betina Freidin机构：布兰迪斯大学本研究通过阿根廷针灸实践和消费的案例，调查了跨国迁移的非传统医学知识在当地的建构和经验。阿根廷是审查这些过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，缺乏对非生物医学从业者的许可程序，而且自2001年以来，法律框架禁止非医生从事法律业务，这一点一直存在争议。这项研究的更广泛的目标是通过关注非传统医疗实践的从业者和使用者在不同治疗环境中遇到针灸时如何要求和实现合法性、有效性和权威性，来检查当地非传统医疗实践的制度化。这项研究解决了以下研究问题：(1)实践者对如何练习针灸的思想是什么？(2)这些承诺如何影响他们的专业项目和实践风格？考虑到目前针灸实践中的专业、法律和机构分歧；(3)用户如何理解在不同的治疗背景下提供的针灸治疗的意义？以及(4)他们为从业者及其治疗分配可信度的标准是什么？这项研究采用了定性的方法：开放式的，对从业者和使用者的深入访谈，临床环境中的观察，以及文件的分析。在2005年进行的初步研究的基础上，将在布宜诺斯艾利斯市和图库曼市开展实地工作。这篇论文的研究将阐明全球背景下医学职业内部的变化过程以及对现有医学权威的外部挑战，从而有助于更广泛的医学社会学、知识社会学和职业社会学以及关于文化全球化的跨学科辩论。更广泛的影响：研究结果将在包括英文和西班牙文期刊在内的会议和学术出版物中传播。鉴于研究完成后，研究人员将在布宜诺斯艾利斯大学担任教职，这项研究将为学生提供培训CAM社会学的机会，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广泛可获得的公共媒体上发表出版物，促进关于该国正在上升的非常规药物的公开辩论。鉴于针灸在公共服务中的可获得性，它将使低收入用户的消费模式变得明显，从而扩大对社会群体的了解，而在国际文献中，关于CAM的使用一直没有得到充分的代表。

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.