Abstract
Feminist science scholars have argued that we should demystify Science (capital S) in our quests of reinventing sciences (lower case). These arguments radicalize their potential in this (post?) pandemic world of intensified corporate pharmaco-power (Preciado) and rigid academic disciplinarity as ground of all truth claims. This paper summarizes a recent ethnography about the operation of a Western Massachusetts energy medicine practitioner who serves approximately 600 active patients whose ailments run the gamut from seasonal allergies to Crohn’s Disease and terminal cancer. Incorporating aspects from several established “alternative” medical systems, this practitioner developed his own diagnostic system and treatment modalities that aim to modify genetic expression. My claim is ultimately that he practices “precision medicine,” a term that recently emerged as a highly innovative direction within mainstream epigenetic research. Three major conceptual frames underpin my reflections: (1) what, in a context where medical research is a multi-billion dollar business, does it mean to conduct research and practice innovation in treatment based on an energy-medicine medium which holds no corporate interest; (2) what is energy medicine and how does it interact —epistemologically, ethically, practically— with a medical standard of care based on biochemistry as its sole horizon of truth; (3) methodologically how can I, as a qualitative and “involved” researcher, claim to be producing knowledge in the context of double blindness as gold standard for medical research? Is there a way of reclaiming science as an embodied and partial knowledge project beyond the poles of blindness and all-seeingness (Haraway)?
Presenters
Christian GundermannAssociate Professor, Gender Stuies, Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Feminist Science Studies, Medical Humanities, Alternative Medicine, Corporate Medicine, Epigenetics
