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Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Bodies, Therapies, Senses

By: Ruth Barcan

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Paperback | 1 October 2011 | Edition Number 1

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Alternative medicine therapies have evolved from the province of the hippy counterculture movement in the 1960s to be firmly established in mainstream healthcare in the 21st century. This book critcally examines the alternative medicine phenomenon by asking Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) practitioners what makes these therapies so appealing, drawing on comprehensive interviews and the author's longstanding participation in this field. Providing a wealth of information from both within the CAM community and around the CAM culture, this text explains the medical and economic sensation of alternative medicine, at once spiritual, medical, recreational and physical. It also examines different viewpoints on the subject from denouncements of alternative medicine as "the triumph of superstition over reason" to a "popular cultural phenomenon that fits the pleasure-seeking drive of consumerism with spiritual and neo-liberal undertones". Complementary and Alternative Medicine is essential reading for students and scholars of cultural studies, anthropology, sensory studies and sociology.

Industry Reviews

"What a marvellous book this is - insightful, well-researched, critically-minded, yet also personal and empathic. Barcan helps us 'rethink the body' through a brilliant examination of practices in alternative medicine, viewed through the lens of cultural studies, the history of philosophy/psychology, and experiential accounts. The product is that rarest of things - a work of comprehensive scholarship that is also a compelling read. - Drew Leder, Professor of Philosophy, Loyola College, Maryland, US

Ruth Barcan offers the first book-length ethnography of a subaltern or alternative sensorium. She describes in vivid detail the challenge to the dominant sensory model of Western society presented by the practitioners and consumers of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), who differ - sometimes widely and often wildly - from the larger society regarding the values and uses of the senses ... Reading this book is to join in a profoundly liberating exercise in the education of the senses. - David Howes, Professor of Anthropology, Concordia University, Canada"

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