Abstract

FREIDIN, Betina. The Practice of a Marginalized Medicine in Argentina: The Case of Medical Homeopaths. Trab. soc. [online]. 2017, n.29, pp.5-24. ISSN 1514-6871.

Homeopathy has been practiced in Argentinean medical circles for about two centuries. Since late 19th century, organized Homeopaths have mobilized to achieve recognition by health regulators and to elevate the status of the discipline in the profession. Although there is a longstanding tradition of postgraduate education imparted by Schools of Homeopathy, the discipline remains excluded from the curriculum of medical schools and only exceptionally postgraduate education in Homeopathy has been supported by private or national universities. Homeopathic medicine in Argentina is a paradigmatic case of a medical heterodoxy that has been the object of active and passive forms of intra-professional marginalization. In this article, we firstly present an overview of the development and global diffusion of the discipline, followed by a review of the contemporary controversies around it. Secondly, we briefly summarize the history of Homeopathy in the country, and the mobilization of homeopathic associations to gain official recognition, pointing to its ambivalences. Finally, we present how medical homeopaths view the constraints and opportunities to practice Homeopathy in Argentina.

Keywords : Homeopathy; Medical profession; Heterodoxies; Intra-professional marginalization.

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