Naturalness as an ethical stance: Idea(l)s and practices of care in westernherbal medicine in the UK

Anthropology and Medicine

Volume 22, Issue 2, 4 May 2015, Pages 162-176

  (Conference Paper)

Nissen, N. 

 

University of Southern Denmark, Department of Public Health, J.B. Winslows Vej 9B, Odense, Denmark 

View references (41)

Abstract

An association of non-biomedical healthcare with appeals to nature and naturalness, and an invocation of a rhetoric of gentleness, goodness, purity and moral power has been noted previously, and some scholars argue that nature has taken on a meaning broadly opposed to the rational scientific order of modernity. Drawing on an ethnographic study of women's practice and use of western herbal medicine (WHM) in the UK, the intertwining of the perceived naturalness of WHM with distinct care practices points to a further avenue for exploration. To examine patients' and herbalists' discourses of the naturalness of WHM and associated idea(l)s and practices of care, understandings of nature and a feminist ethics of care are utilized as analytical frameworks. The analysis presented suggests that, through WHM, patients and herbalists become embedded in a complex spatio-temporal wholeness and web of care that intertwines past, present and future, self and others, and local and global concerns. In the emerging ordinary ethics of care, naturalness constitutes a sign of goodness and of a shared humanity within the organic world, while care, underpinned by idea(l)s of natural and holistic care practices, links human and non-human others. Thus, the naturalness of WHM, as perceived by some patients and herbalists, engages and blends with a continually unfolding field of relationships in the lifeworld(s), where care practices, caring relations and collective wellbeing may constitute an ethical stance that raises deeper questions about the significance of relationality, the values of care/caring and the mutual involvement of nature and human being(s). © 2015 © 2015 Taylor & Francis.

Author keywords

anthropology of ethics; feminist ethics of care; herbal medicine; naturalness; non-biomedical healthcare

Indexed keywords

EMTREE medical terms: alternative medicine; Conference Paper; consultation; ethics; feminism; health care practice;herbal medicine; holistic care; human; priority journal; traditional healer; United Kingdom; wellbeing; western medicine; female; feminism; medical anthropology; middle aged; traditional medicine; verbal communication

MeSH: Anthropology, Medical; Female; Feminism; Great Britain; Herbal Medicine; Humans; Medicine, Traditional; Middle Aged; Narration
Medline is the source for the MeSH terms of this document.

ISSN: 13648470 CODEN: APMDFSource Type: Journal Original language: English

DOI: 10.1080/13648470.2015.1043789 PubMed ID: 26001272Document Type: Conference Paper

Publisher: Routledge

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  Nissen, N.; University of Southern Denmark, Department of Public Health, J.B. Winslows Vej 9B, Denmark
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