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I: COVID-19 pandemic and the politics of risk: Perspectives on science, state and society in India
In: Contributions to Indian sociology, Band 55, Heft 2, S. 254-267
ISSN: 0973-0648
Health behaviour of the people is said to be shaped by market forces, scientific or religious institutions or the state. It is pertinent to examine the dominant institutions that shape health cultures in any society, at any given point in time. While public health has not been a priority for the Indian state, the COVID-19 pandemic created an unmistakable opportunity for state regulation. It is the argument of this article that the state has been central to the framing of the COVID-19 pandemic and the identification of relevant interventions, such that the borderline between the political and medical is blurred. The influence of these institutional decisions on the health behaviour of the people indicates that compliant health behaviour is a symbolic resource for the state in societies like India, irrespective of whether the government actually delivers on its health care delivery.
The Universal and the Global: Contextualising European Ayurvedic Practices
In: Society and culture in South Asia, Band 6, Heft 1, S. 52-73
ISSN: 2394-9872
Fifty years ago, South Asian medicines were regarded as ethnomedicines devoid of scientific credibility as they were not verifiable under controlled laboratory conditions. By the 1990s, however, South Asian medicines entered the global health market, specially, Western Europe and North America despite the opposition from scientific lobbies. Ayurveda's presence in Europe is not comparable to Chinese medicine and is probably fourth or fifth in the scale of importance among other complementary therapies, but it is crucial to note that it entered Europe not riding on Indian migrants or capital investment but as cultural goods promoted by European followers of Indian gurus. In other words, unlike Asian cuisines and garments taken to foreign lands by immigrants, yoga and ayurveda were directly accessed and consumed by the white-middle and upper-middle classes and were paid for privately. Does globalisation of ayurveda mean that it has also become universal? What is the relation between biomedicalisation of ayurveda in India and its spiritualisation in Europe? How is ayurveda transmitted and practiced outside India? What are the issues raised by the globalisation of ayurveda? Based on fieldwork with European practitioners of ayurveda in three European countries, this article intends to address some of these questions by tracing the trajectory of the global ayurveda through the experience of its European practitioners.
Globalisation of South Asian Medicines: Knowledge, Power, Structure and Sustainability
In: Society and culture in South Asia, Band 6, Heft 1, S. 7-30
ISSN: 2394-9872
The discourses on globalisation focus their attention on the flow of capital and technology from the global North. Historical, anthropological and sociological studies, however, point to crucial flows of medical knowledge, health practices, medicinal plants, other genetic resources and the first-hand knowledge of their applications into the global North from other regions rich in biodiversity. These flows do not just continue to happen but have been significant in shaping the postmodern condition. This collection is an attempt to draw attention to the less visible flows by presenting the epistemic, political, social and ecological dimensions of the globalisation of South Asian medicines and the ramifications of this process abroad and at home. The introduction outlines a framework to understand the convergences and divergences in the medical systems and health practices in the South Asian region. Although contemporary trajectories of traditional medicines in South Asian nations are many and varied, they face similar issues and share common anxieties. The challenge will be in evolving effective solutions at many levels and there are several possibilities for mutual learning among the South Asian nations.
What Is the Sociology behind Health Status and Health-seeking Behaviour?
In: Sociological bulletin: journal of the Indian Sociological Society, Band 66, Heft 3, S. 286-301
ISSN: 2457-0257
Health status and health-seeking behaviour are commonly studied in the context of human development and public health. Numerous studies measuring health status and the utilisation of health services are conducted, and a considerable amount of statistical correlations and analyses have been generated. These are valuable baselines but are often accepted as given and immutable. What could be a sociological approach to numerical data? The aim of this article is to show that sociological writings on health should go beyond the definitions and terms used in statistical databases and place them in the context of social life of the people whose health status is under study. The social dynamics in the everyday life of people, the imperatives on their decisions under lived conditions and their cultural predispositions will be important to the understanding of their health status, whether or not they are statistically significant. Qualitative and micro enquiries are required to correct, complement and explain the issues raised by numerical data.
Innovation within and between Traditions: Dilemma of Traditional Medicine in Contemporary India
In: Science, technology & society: an international journal devoted to the developing world, Band 16, Heft 2, S. 191-213
ISSN: 0973-0796
This paper seeks to bring the study of Asian medical systems from cultural studies into the ambit of social studies of science. It examines issues pertaining to innovation in indigenous systems of medicine (ISM) in contemporary India, with specific reference to siddha medicine. Drawing upon Kuhn's theory of growth of scientific knowledge, the paper argues that only innovations within an epistemic tradition contribute to its incremental growth. On the other hand, innovations that happen in the interstices of distinct epistemic models of the body, such as the case with the laboratory trials of indigenous medical formulae, are not likely to lead to cumulative growth of ISM, even if they contribute to the biotechnology sector. The argument is set out by foregrounding the career of different kinds of practitioners of siddha medicine, showing how innovation between scientific traditions becomes invisible because of the absence of institutional closure on the norms of discovery and verification in ISM.
Pluralism in Indian medicine: Medical lore as a genre of medical knowledge
In: Contributions to Indian sociology, Band 41, Heft 2, S. 169-202
ISSN: 0973-0648
When engaging in cross-cultural comparisons, medical anthropology has often tended to employ dichotomous typologies. This results in a reductionist analysis that obliterates the complexities within medical cultures and assimilates them into one homogenous type. This article makes a case for studying the different sources of medical knowledge within the category of 'Indian medicine' as they emerge from the differing ontological positions yet intersecting practices of laymen and experts. It goes on to explore the epistemological implications of this pluralism. The article explores the multiple genres of medical knowledge prevalent among people in a region in central Tamil Nadu to examine the relationship between professional, folk and lay practitioners. This analysis shows the complexity of medical knowledge and highlights the inadequacy of established dichotomies.
Food: The Immanent Cause from Outside - Medical Lore on Food and Health in Village Tamil Nadu
In: Sociological bulletin: journal of the Indian Sociological Society, Band 51, Heft 1, S. 79-100
ISSN: 2457-0257
Internal to external - transformation of the ecology and the body system: conceptions of ecology, health and development in South Indian villages
In: Review of development and change, Band 6, Heft 2, S. 225-251
ISSN: 2632-055X
Book reviews and notices : RAMKRISHNA MUKHERJEE, Systemic sociology. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1993. 166 pp. Figs., tables, refs., Rs. 195 (hardback)/Rs. 95 (paperback)
In: Contributions to Indian sociology, Band 30, Heft 2, S. 310-311
ISSN: 0973-0648
Role of Non-Farm Sector in the Transformation of India's Rural Economy
In: International Journal of Management (IJM), Band 5(11), Heft 48-50
SSRN
Knowledge and Practice of Family Planning: A Study on Rickshaw Pullers, Lucknow
SSRN
Working paper
Book Reviews
In: Sociological bulletin: journal of the Indian Sociological Society, Band 60, Heft 2, S. 356-383
ISSN: 2457-0257
Book Reviews
In: Sociological bulletin: journal of the Indian Sociological Society, Band 54, Heft 2, S. 277-300
ISSN: 2457-0257
Book Reviews
In: Sociological bulletin: journal of the Indian Sociological Society, Band 62, Heft 3, S. 483-535
ISSN: 2457-0257