Unani Medicine in the Making

Practices and Representations in 21st-century India
0. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-94-6372-421-0
Verlag: Amsterdam University Press

Buch, Englisch, 284 Seiten, Format (B × H): 241 mm x 161 mm, Gewicht: 592 g

Reihe: Social Studies in Asian Medicine

Unani Medicine in the Making examines the institutions and practices of Unani medicine, the Graeco-Islamic healing practice based on the humoral theory attributed to Hippocrates and officially recognized as a system of medicine in India. Drawing on diverse materials, including Urdu sources, interviews with practitioners, and observations in clinics, the book explores what Unani medicine is today by attending to its multiplicity, scrutinizing apparent tensions between the understanding of Unani as a system of medicine and its multiple enactments as Islamic medicine, medical science, or alternative medicine. Ethnographic details provide vivid descriptions of the current practice of Unani in India, and invite readers to rethink the idea that humoral medicine is incommensurable with modern medicine and science, and that the modernization of Asian medicines invariably leads to their biomedicalization. Ultimately, the book also discusses the relationship of Unani with Muslim communities, examining the growing practice of Prophetic Medicine in Urban India and increasing representations of Unani as Islamic Medicine.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schmidt-Stiedenroth, Kira

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Komplementäre Medizin, Asiatische Medizin (TCM), Heilpraktiker
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Ethnomedizin
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Geschichte der Medizin

Inhaltsverzeichnis

INTRODUCTION

MULTIPLICITY, PRACTICE ONTOLOGY, AND LOOPING EFFECTS

UNANI AND TRADITIONAL MEDICINE IN SOUTH ASIA

FROM THE TOPIC TO FIELDWORK

CHAPTER 1 - A SYSTEM OF MEDICINE?

OFFICIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF UNANI MEDICINE

UNANI PRACTITIONERS

TEXTUAL SOURCES OF AUTHORITY

SYSTEMATIZATION AND LOOPING EFFECTS

CHAPTER 2 - AUTHORITY, ORIGINALITY, AND THE LIMITS OF STANDARDIZATION

CREATION AND TRANSMISSION OF MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE

DEGREES AND (UN-)OFFICIAL PRACTICE

DEFYING STANDARDS

CHAPTER 3 - BEYOND HUMORALISM

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF UNANI MEDICINE

FINDING THE ROOT CAUSE OF DISEASE

THERAPEUTIC PRACTICES

HUMORALISM AND LOOPING EFFECTS

CHAPTER 4 - THE APPROPRIATION OF MODERN SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES AND CONCEPTS

A CASE OF BIOMEDICALIZATION?

USING MODERN DIAGNOSTIC METHODS

CHAPTER 5 - SCIENCE AND THE QUEST FOR ACCEPTANCE AND RECOGNITION

SCIENCE AS MEANS FOR RECOGNITION

VALIDATING UNANI THROUGH MODERN SCIENCE

CHAPTER 6 - UNANI MEDICINE AND MUSLIMS IN INDIA

UNANI MEDICINE AND MUSLIM CULTURE

ISLAMIC MEDICINE?

SECULAR OR ISLAMIC? UNANI AND PROPHETIC MEDICINE

CONCLUSIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Über Autor(innen)

Schmidt-Stiedenroth, Kira
Kira Schmidt Stiedenroth is assistant professor of Anthropology at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, where she coordinates the Master’s program ‘Health and Society in South Asia’. Her teaching and research interests lie mainly in medical anthropology, with a particular focus on the anthropology of drugs and pharmaceuticals, South Asian healing practices, and (forced) migration studies.