Medical Pluralism in Contemporary India questions the dominant view of indigenous systems of medicine as cultural remnants of a traditional past. It points out that their practitioners greatly outnumber those of biomedicine (allopathy) and explores the reasons behind the enduring presence and importance of health care traditions such as ayurveda, siddha and unani.
The authors go beyond simplistic distinctions like traditional–modern and science–culture. They draw attention to the possibility of bridging the divide between knowledge systems, and prepare the ground for a socially and culturally inclusive approach to healing and health care.
Aspects of commercialisation and globalisation of traditional medicines are also examined.
V. Sujatha is Associate Professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Leena Abraham is Associate Professor at the Centre for Studies in the Sociology of Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
List of Tables and Figures Preface List of Abbreviations Introduction V. Sujatha and Leena Abraham
PART I Knowledge and Society: Ancient Medicine in the Contemporary Set-up 1. Contrasting Approaches to Health and Disease: Ayurveda and Biomedicine Rama Jayasundar 2. Ayurveda in the Twenty-First Century: Logic, Practice and Ethics Maarten Bode 3. The Patient as Knower: Principle and Practice in Siddha Medicine V. Sujatha
PART II Medicine, State and Society 4. AYUSH and Public Health: Democratic Pluralism and the Quality of Health Services Ritu Priya 5. Tension, Placation, Complaint: Unani and Post-Colonial Medical Communalism Neshat Quaiser
PART III Away from the State: Initiatives of Practitioners and Protagonists 6. Competing for Medical Space: Traditional Practitioners in the Transmission and Promotion of Siddha Medicine Brigitte Sébastia 7. Medicine as Culture: Indigenous Medicine in Cosmopolitan Mumbai Leena Abraham
PART IV Competing Indigenities: Mainstream versus Marginal in Medicine and Healing 8. Strengthening Childbirth Care: Can the Maternity Services Open Up to Indigenous Traditions of Midwifery? Mira Sadgopal 9. Global Standards and Local Medical Worlds: The Case of Childbirth Practices Tulsi Patel 10. Recovering from Psychosocial Traumas: The Place of Dargahs in Maharashtra Bhargavi V. Davar and Madhura Lohokare 11. Local Health Practitioners in India: Resilience, Revitalisation and Reintegration Unnikrishnan Payyappallimana and G. Hariramamurthi 12. Commercialising Traditional Medicine: Ayurvedic Manufacturing in Kerala M. S. Harilal
Glossary References List of Contributors Index