Systems of Medicine and Nationalist Discourse in India : Towards New Horizons in medical Anthropology and History  

Oleh:

Khan, Shamshad

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Social Science & Medicine (www.elsevier.com/locate/sosscimed) vol. 62 no. 11 (Jun. 2006), page 2786-2797.
Topik: MEDICINE; india; medical pluralism; alternative medicine; nationalist discourse; ayurveda and unani systems; knowledge systems

Ketersediaan

Perpustakaan Pusat (Semanggi) Nomor Panggil: SS53.4 Non-tandon: 1 (dapat dipinjam: 0) Tandon: tidak ada

Lihat Detail Induk

Isi artikel

While accepting medical pluralism as a historical reality, as an intrinsic value inherent in any medical system and as an ideal or desired goal that any multicultural society ought to achieve, this paper argues the need to go beyond the liberal pluralist tendencies that have dominated the debate so far. It holds that while documenting or dealing with the coexistence of varied medical traditions and practices, we must not ignore or underplay issues of power, domination and hegemony and must locate our work in a larger histrorical, social and political context. With this perspective and based essentially on assembly preceedings, private papers, official documents and archival materials from the first half of the 20th century, this paper identifies three major streams in the antionalist discourse in india, conformity, defiance and the quest for an alternative. It shows that while the elements of conformity to biomedicine and its dominance remained more pronounced and emphatic, those of defiance were conversely weak and at times even apologetic, The quest for alternatives, on the other hand, although powerful and able to build merchant civilizational and institutional critique of modern science and medicine, could never find adequate space in the national agenda for social change. The paper further holds that although the cultural authority and hegemony of biomedicine over indigenous science and knowledge were initiated by the colonial state, they were extended by the mainstream national leaderships and national governments with far more complementary and alternative health systems on the one hand and the hegemonic and homogenizing role and presence of multilateral organizations (such as the world bank and IMF) in shaping national ehalth policies on the other such insights from history become extraordinary important.

Opini Anda

Klik untuk menuliskan opini Anda tentang koleksi ini!

Kembali