Paper short abstract:

In Sweden, acupuncture methods have entered conventional health-care, while discussions of complementary ontologies have generally not. This project looks at notions of prevention, health and disease, related to the heart, expressed in courses in Chinese (TCM) acupuncture and in biomedical training.

Paper long abstract:

In Sweden, as in many other countries, practices of acupuncture have to a certain extent been integrated into conventional health-care. Under the concept of Medical Acupuncture (White 2009), acupuncture needling is made legitimate while Chinese concepts such as qi, yin/yang and meridians are not. Space is thus made for method, but not for alternative or complementary ontologies. This project, located at the Medical Faculty, directs attention to questions of ontological difference, similarity and discussion, as expressed in Scandinavian courses in Chinese (TCM) acupuncture as well as in biomedical training. Focus lies on conceptions of prevention, risk, health and disease, related to the heart. Ethnographic material is analyzed through concepts of metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson 2003/1980, Pritzker 2007), key symbol (Ortner 1973), ontology (Johannessen, Helle & Lázar 2006; Mol 2002) and lines (Ingold 2015, 2007).