Abstract

BORDES, Mariana  and  SAIZAR, Mercedes. "Better not talk about this": Omissions and reformulations of the sacred by alternative therapists working in hospital settings. Soc. relig. [online]. 2018, vol.28, n.50, pp.161-182. ISSN 1853-7081.

In this work, our interest is focused on the analysis of alternative therapeutic practices in hospital settings of the City of Buenos Aires (Argentina). Based on original materials from interviews semi-directed to reflexologists and reikists who work as volunteers in the institution, we analyze the ways in which alternative specialists manage the dimension of religious/sacred in their knowledge and practices, as part of a general strategy tending to solve emerging and/or potential conflicts with the field of meanings of official medicine. In this sense, we are interested in reflecting on the scope and limits of alternative treatment in the hospital, starting from two central categories to alternative discourse, such as those of holism and energy. We are focusing on how these notions are emphasized or made invisible in practices and discourses and the impact that these restrictions have on the therapeutic process and the definition of the role of specialists within the hospital.

Keywords : Hospital; Alternative Therapies; Holism; Energy; Sacred.

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