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This book examines how complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) – as knowledge, philosophy and practice – is constituted by, and transformed through, broader social developments. Shifting the sociological focus away from CAM as a stable entity that elicits perceptions and experiences, chapters explore the forms that CAM takes in different settings, how global social transformations elicit varieties of CAM, and how CAM philosophies and practices are co-produced in the context of social change. Through engagement with frameworks from Science and Technology Studies (STS), CAM is reconceptualised as a set of practices and knowledge-making processes, and opened up to new forms of analysis...
Acupuncture and related techniques are useful tools for treating a spectrum of diseases. However, there are still many areas of controversy surrounding it. We hope this book can contribute to guide the advance of this ancient medical art. In the present work, the reader will find texts written by authors from different parts of the world. The chapters cover strategic areas to collaborate with the consolidation of the knowledge in acupuncture. The book doesn't intend to solve all the questions regarding this issue but the main objective is to share elements to make acupuncture more and better understood at health systems worldwide.
Since the beginning of the World Health Organization, many of its staff members, regional offices, member states, and directors-general have grappled with the question of what a 'spiritual dimension' of health looks like, and how it might enrich the health policies advocated by their organisations. Contrary to the wide-spread perception that 'spirituality' is primarily related to palliative care and has emerged relatively recently within the organisation, this study shows that its history is considerably longer and more complex, and has been closely connected to the WHO's ethical aspirations, its quest for more holistic and equitable healthcare, and its struggle with the colonial legacy of i...
This is the first encyclopaedic work on Western esotericism in Scandinavia. Structured along the lines of the Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericsm (2005), it contains over 80 articles written by 47 specialists. It consists of critical overviews of all the major esoteric currents in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, ranging from Alchemy, Anthroposophy, and Astrology, to Theosophy, Traditionalism, and UFO Movements. This ground-breaking work is of relevance not only for scholars and students of Western esotericism, but for all with an interest in alternative religious traditions and Scandinavian intellectual history.
This book celebrates and captures examples of the excellent scholarship that Palgrave’s Health, Technology, and Society Series has published since 2006, and reflects on how the field has developed over this time. As a collection of readings drawn from twenty-two books, it is organized around five themes: Innovation, Responsibility, Locus of Care, Knowledge Production, and Regulation and Governance. Structured in this way, the book gives the reader a concise but nonetheless rich guide to the core issues and debates within the field. Complementing these narratives, the original authors have provided new reflection pieces on their texts and on their current work. This then is a book which in part looks back but also looks forward to emerging issues at the intersection of health, technology, and society. It uniquely encompasses and presents a range of expertise in a novel way that is both timely and accessible for students and others new to the field.
In this first book-length treatment of MELF, the authors assert that MELF represents an important contribution to our understanding of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), in that existing ELF research has been limited to relatively low stakes communicative situations, such as interactions in business, academia, internet blogging or casual conversations. Medical contexts, in contrast, often represent situations calling for exceptional communicative precision and urgency. Providing both evidence from their own research and analysis from (the limited number of) existing studies, the authors offer a counterpoint to the optimism regarding communicative success prevalent in ELF. The book proposes a theoretical perspective on how the various features of healthcare communication serve as important variables in shaping interaction among speakers of ELF, further enlarging our understanding of this emerging sub-field.
The experience of wonder—encompassing awe, bewilderment, curiosity, excitement, fear, dread, mystery, perplexity, reverence, surprise, and supplication—and the ineffable quality of that which is wondrous have been entwined in religion and human experience. Yet strangely, wonder in non-western societies, including South Asia, has rarely been acknowledged or understood. This groundbreaking volume brings together historians and ethnographers of South Asia, including leading and emerging scholars, to consider the place and meaning of wonder in such varied joyful, tense, and creative sites and moments as Sufi music performances in Gujarat, Tamil graveyard processions, trans women's charitable practices, Kipling's Orientalist tales, village Kuchipudi dance performances, and Rajasthani healing shrines. Offering a synthetic and scholarly reading of wonder that speaks to the political, aesthetic, and ethical worlds of South Asia, these essays redefine the nature and meaning of wonder and its worlds. Taken together, they provide an invaluable research tool for those in the fields of Asian religion, religion in context, and South Asian religions in particular.
This comprehensive Encyclopedia delves into the underpinnings, approaches, and recent advancements in the dynamic global landscape of happiness and wellbeing research. Laying out the foundational concepts and disciplinary perspectives in the field, international leading and diverse authors survey the determinants and mechanisms which are associated with happiness, quality of life and subjective wellbeing. This title contains one or more Open Access entries.
In this book, Yuxia Qian and Rukhsana Ahmed explore health acculturation, which they argue is a complex, multidimensional communication process involving concerted efforts from migrants, health professionals, researchers, community members, policymakers, and the media, rather than a unidimensional process synonymous with assimilation. Qian and Ahmed examine individual migrant health acculturation experiences, community-based culturally-centered health interventions, and cross-cultural health promotion and campaigns. Ultimately, this book unpacks the complexity surrounding the health acculturation process through different theoretical frameworks and cross-cultural applications in a range of communication contexts, including the interpersonal, family, community, organizational, and media.
The most comprehensive major academic textbook available on its topic, this classic text presents the most important research studies in the field. The author integrates engaging first-person accounts from patients, physicians, and other health care providers throughout the text. Since its inception, this book's principal goal has been to introduce students to the field of medical sociology and serve as a reference for faculty by presenting the most current ideas, issues, concepts, themes, theories, and research findings in the field. This new edition is heavily revised with updated data and important new additions. New to this edition: A contemporary account of medical sociology’s subfiel...