Paper short abstract:

Medical anthropology can represent a significant force in the re-socialization of biomedical practice and in the process of knowledge production. My research highlights how the anthropological approach can problematize some of the epistemological limitations encountered by biomedical science.

Paper long abstract:

The scientific character of biomedicine has long been considered a deterrent element in recognizing its cultural nature. A key role of anthropology, in its relation to the biomedical apparatus, could be calling into question the characterization of medical science as “objective”, instilling «a doubt that in some way would remind us that biomedicine and science are also products of social life and cultural imagination» (Martínez Hernáez). While biomedicine perceives itself (and is perceived) as a "transparent" system, anthropology can surface a social connotation that, otherwise, would remain hidden.

This contribution, based on research I carried out during 2021 in the contexts of rare diseases in children and chronic pain, reflects on the added value of social sciences to the field of healthcare.

Farmer points out that the social sciences are necessary for medical providers, as the understanding of the Other helps to build medical answers. My research highlight that epistemic limitations in the biomedical context are generated by four key factors: the invisible, albeit perfectly experiential, intrinsic power that the doctors possess in the relationship with their patients; the difference between the interpretations of knowledge; the medical attitude, which tends to exclude the subjective experience of suffering; the rigidity of the protocols within which problems and solutions are expected to be framed in this context.

In my view, an anthropological reading of knowledge can be a resource to ensure therapeutic actions taking into account plurality of meanings and it would be inclined to heal fracture between knowledge in its co-construction.