Can Biomedicine be Considered as an Alternative Healing? Engaging with the Ideas of Gregory Maskarinec
Kapil Babu Dahal
Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology June 13, 2023 DOI: 10.3126/dsaj.v17i02.55719 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that shamanism, as portrayed in Gregory Masakarinec's writings, should be taken seriously as a healing practice, and that biomedicine's hegemonic status in health care is questionable: in particular social and cultural contexts, biomedicine can itself be seen as an alternative healing practice. |
Abstract
In constant interactions with the select contributions of late Gregory Masakarinec, this paper analyzes the practices of shamanism as he had portrayed, mainly through his writings. While engaging with his ideas and portrayal, I will relentlessly engage with other relevant literature from different genre of medical anthropology which have dealt with health, illness and healing practices. Questioning the hegemonic presence of biomedicine in the field of health care, this article shows that even biomedicine can be considered as an alternative healing practice in typical social and cultural context of healing.