Multiple Medical Realities

Helle Johannessen had a PhD in anthropology from University of Copenhagen and conducted research and teaching in medical anthropology from the mid-1980s. She was associate professor at the Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, where she was head of a research unit and a PhD program for social studies in medicine. In her research she studied medical pluralism in Denmark and Europe. She was involved with a comparative study of the use of complementary medicine among cancer patients in Denmark, Italy and India. She died in 2018.

“…an intriguing collection of articles exploring medical pluralism and bodily experiences from a largely European perspective.” • American Anthropologist

• List of TablesList of FiguresPrefaceby Thomas CsordasList of ContributorsChapter 1. Introduction: Body and Self in Medical PluralismHelle JohannessenPART I: BODY, SELF AND SOCIALITYChapter 2. Demographic Background and Health Status of Users of Alternative Medicine: A Hungarian ExampleLászló Buda, Kinga Lampek and Tamás TahinChapter 3. Táltos Healers, Neoshamans and Multiple Medical Realities in Postsocialist HungaryImre LázárChapter 4. ‘The Double Face of Subjectivity’: A Case Study in a Psychiatric Hospital (Ghana)Kristine KrauseChapter 5. German Medical Doctors’ Motives for Practising Homoeopathy, Acupuncture or AyurvedaRobert Frank and Gunnar StollbergChapter 6. Pluralisms of Provision, Use and Ideology: Homoeopathy in South LondonChristine A. BarryChapter 7. Re-examining the Medicalisation ProcessEfrossyni DelmouzouPART II: BODY, SELF AND THE EXPERIENCE OF HEALINGChapter 8. Healing and the Mind-body Complex: Childbirth and Medical Pluralism in South AsiaGeoffrey SamuelChapter 9. Self, Soul and Intravenous Infusion: Medical Pluralism and the Concept of samay among the Naporuna in EcuadorMichael KnipperChapter 10. Experiences of Illness and Self: Tamil Refugees in Norway Seeking Medical AdviceAnne Sigfrid GrønsethChapter 11. The War of the Spiders: Constructing Mental Illnesses in the Multicultural Communities of the Highlands of ChiapasWitold JacorzynskiChapter 12. Epilogue: Multiple Medical Realities: Reflections from Medical AnthropologyImre Lázár and Helle JohannessenIndex