Power, Conflict and Complementary and Alternative Medicine

This session focuses on the position of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the healthcare division of labour in turbulent times. Historically, the array of therapies that fall under the CAM umbrella – from acupuncture and ayurveda to herbalism and homeopathy – have generally been marginalised in face of attacks by orthodox medicine. More recently, in politically supportive environments, the practitioners of such therapies have been able to fight back. This has led to their incorporation within medical orthodoxy in some societies, which has been manifested in state legislation legitimating such practices or at least substantial numbers of doctors and other orthodox health practitioners taking up particular forms of CAM. This has often come at the price of a dilution of CAM principles but is a key illustration of the way in which interest-based power and conflict have influenced the public availability of CAM. Papers are welcomed from a variety of theoretical perspectives that explore this and other allied themes on CAM at local, national and/or international levels. One of several focal points here might be the way in which professionalisation has facilitated or impeded the process of integrating CAM into the mainstream and/or providing a basis for independent practice.