Introduction: Reconceptualising Complementary and Alternative Medicine as Knowledge Production and Social Transformation

Brosnan, Caragh; Vuolanto, Pia; Danell, Jenny-Ann Brodin

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-73939-7_1

Cited by 12 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Given the prevalence and popularity of CAM usage in Australia, news stories about these products and practices are likely to continue to draw attention from journalists. CAM objects and actors are provocative in their very distinction and marginalisation from biomedicine and mainstream healthcare (Brosnan et al, 2018) and they appeal to news narratives that emphasise such a polarised view of CAM amidst a professional news environment that is often poorly resourced, uncritically reverent of biomedical sources (Lewis, Orrock & Myers, 2010) and increasingly wary of industry interests and unorthodox practices that are seen as unscientific and potentially exploitative. The result is that strategic communication work is made relatively easy in the media space for a lobby group like FSM, who are able to invoke scientific credibility without actually demonstrating it in the discourse.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Identifying and understanding boundary work is crucial here. A number of scholars have addressed the matter of biomedical boundary work at play as a response to the CAM phenomenon (Saks, 2003;Derkatch, 2016;Brosnan, 2018Brosnan, , 2017Caldwell, 2017;Gale, 2014). This includes matters of definition and classification of CAM practices and objects Political citizens, consumers or passive patients?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Political citizens, consumers, or passive patients? Imagined audiences in the complementary medicine debate

Lewis

2020

Communication Research and Practice

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This is a content analysis (2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017) of news stories referring to an Australian-based lobby group called the Friends of Science in Medicine (FSM) who have been active in their denouncement of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Australia. Of particular interest are the models of biocommunicability that dominated these news stories. Drawing from the works of Briggs and Hallin, these biocommunicability models enable us to consider whether the news story imagines its audience as passive patients, active patient-consumers, or engaged citizens in the public sphere. Of 76 articles, public sphere stories were the most frequent (n=54) followed by patient-consumer reports (n=36). Prioritising the voices of FSM lobbyists, news stories address their audiences as politically astute citizens or active consumers negotiating a range of healthcare options in an ambiguous healthcare landscape.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political citizens, consumers, or passive patients? Imagined audiences in the complementary medicine debate

Lewis

2020

Communication Research and Practice

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“…The latter, namely the spiritualization of medicine can be identified in the growing scientific, medical, and professional interests for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) (e.g., Balboni and Peteet, 2017;Brosnan et al, 2018;Timmins and Caldeira, 2019), the expansion of what David Heelas has famously labeled the "holistic milieu" (Heelas, 2008), and the forms of knowledge production and social transformations that they foster. CAM and the holistic milieu are in fact characterized by the attempt to bridge Western biomedical conceptions of health with non-Western traditional medicine, such as acupuncture, Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine alongside other approaches such as Reiki, homeopathy and hypnotherapy.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blending Martial Arts and Yoga for Health: From the Last Samurai to the First Odaka Yoga Warrior

Placido

2020

Front. Sociol.

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This paper introduces the case study of Odaka Yoga, an innovative style of postural yoga blended with martial arts elements which emphasizes the importance of practitioners' health and processes of self-transformation as pivotal to the school's ethos. More specifically, the paper explores how Odaka Yoga's philosophical backdrops and practical repertoire, composed by a mixture of “exotic” resources such as Bushido, zen, yoga, and a constant reference to the ocean waves and biomechanics, constitute a very specific vision of health at the intersection of Western science and esoteric knowledge. Theoretically, the paper borrows from Jennings' theory of martial creation and enriches it with some of the central analytical tools proposed by theorists such as Bourdieu and Foucault. Methodologically, it relies on a multimodal approach including discursive analysis of the school's promotional materials, interviews with the founders and other key teachers, and observant participation of practitioners' apprenticeship processes. More Specifically, this paper discusses the birth of Odaka Yoga as occurring at the intersection of Asian martial arts and yoga, as well as the founders' biographical trajectories from the world of competitive martial arts and fitness, to yoga; it then turns to an examination of Odaka Yoga's conception of health as a mixture of the Western biomedical model and the subtle body model of Asian traditions such as yoga and martial arts. It argues that the conception of health promoted by this school gives rise to the Odaka Yoga Warrior, the ideal-typical practitioner whose body is simultaneously exposed to the medical gaze and its imperatives of control, knowledge, and manipulation; while it also deifies it, as it is animated by the elusive flows of energy ( qi or prana ) that prolonged practice aims to master. The paper concludes with a reflection on hybrid conceptions of health and the ubiquitous role of health discourses and narratives across sociocultural domains.

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“…El creciente interés por las TAC desde las ciencias sociales se sitúa en el cambio de siglo, coincidiendo con la atención dedicada desde los círculos clínicos y desde las políticas en salud pública (Brosnan, Vuolanto y Dannell, 2018). A través de la lente de diferentes disciplinas y marcos conceptuales se ha ido desarrollado un corpus de literatura en el que se abordan las diversas dimensiones sociales que se han visto afectadas por la convivencia de las TAC con la medicina convencional en los sistemas de atención sanitaria.…”

Section: Antecedentesunclassified

El Debate Político Sobre Las Terapias Alternativas Y Complementarias en España en La Interfaz Entre Ciencia, Política Y Sociedad (1979-2018)

Lopera-Pareja

2019

Perspect. comun.

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The aim of this paper is to investigate the construction processes of political discourses on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the Spanish context through the analysis of linguistic terms and narratives used in the parliamentary activity to make reference to this heterogeneous set of treatments, techniques and products throughout the period 1979-2018. For this purpose, we build upon the theoretical framework of coproductionism, developed in the field of Social Studies of Science by Sheila Jasanoff (2004). Through the application of content analysis and discourse analysis, the evolution of political attention to the issue is traced, the lexical-semantic implications of the terminology are mapped and the narratives are identified in the Spanish political sphere. According to the results, the parliamentary activity was mainly focused on controlling the Government in power and, to a much lesser extent, on the submission of proposals. Most of the discussed initiatives addressing the relationship between CAM and conventional medicine were launched from a pluralistic approach. However, as of 2017 there was a turning point towards oppositionist positions evidenced by the use of the terms 'pseudosciences' and 'pseudo therapies', and narratives emphasizing the safety of patients and the notion of victim. The difficulties of regulating CAM and the relevance of scientific knowledge were evidenced by the continued demand for expert advice.

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Introduction: Reconceptualising Complementary and Alternative Medicine as Knowledge Production and Social Transformation

Cited by 12 publications

References 70 publications

Political citizens, consumers, or passive patients? Imagined audiences in the complementary medicine debate

Political citizens, consumers, or passive patients? Imagined audiences in the complementary medicine debate

Blending Martial Arts and Yoga for Health: From the Last Samurai to the First Odaka Yoga Warrior

El Debate Político Sobre Las Terapias Alternativas Y Complementarias en España en La Interfaz Entre Ciencia, Política Y Sociedad (1979-2018)

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