Ayurvedic college education, reifying biomedicine and the need for reflexivity
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The paper analyses the experiences with government sanctioned Ayurvedic college education of 14 young Ayurvedic doctors working at the Integrative Health Centre in Bangalore, India. Unfamiliarity with Ayurvedic logic and Indian natural philosophies, lack of clinical training and the mixing-up of Ayurvedic and biomedical notions are their main complaints. The 14 young Ayurvedic doctors also missed a convincing perspective on how to integrate Ayurvedic logic, modern scientific knowledge and biomedical diagnostics. Ayurvedic state sanctioned education seems to be caught between Ayurveda's natural philosophy of health and the techno-science of biomedicine. The Ayurvedic doctors under scrutiny face the danger of becoming 'half-baked products' when they do not learn to reflect on the tension between Indian traditional knowledge and biomedical learning. The paper argues that the logic of modern science and biomedicine's claim to value-free knowledge captivates Ayurvedic education and research. This hinders Ayurveda's development as a vibrant alterity to biomedicine. What is needed is a critical social science perspective on the construction of medical knowledge and India's hierarchical medical landscape.
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Ayurveda's uncritical acceptance of biomedicine's claim to objectivity and value neutrality could cost it its uniqueness and autonomy.
“Observing the lack of reflexivity among Ayurvedic doctors in India, Bode and Shankar express concern that Ayurveda's uncritical acceptance of biomedicine's claim to objectivity and value neutrality could cost it its uniqueness and autonomy.”
From Indian Imaginaries of Chinese Success in the Global Herbal Medicine Market (2019) · cites this paper as Bode and Shankar 2017, 171
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- Authors
- Bode, M., & Shankar, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine (IAIM), Geriatric Department, Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore, India
- Corresponding author
- Bode, Maarten
- Venue
- Anthropology & Medicine
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2017-05-16
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 162-175
- ISSN
- 1364-8470 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-2910
- OpenAlex
- W2615592069
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 5
- FWCI
- 3.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2017-06-23)
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Anthropology and Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Traditional Chinese Medicine Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health and Medical Education
- Keywords
- Ayurveda, biomedicine, reflexivity, medical hierarchy
- MeSH terms
- Education, Medical, Humans, India, Medicine, Ayurvedic, Physicians, Anthropology, Medical
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