Searching for a 'new magical world': the contradictions of CAM and new age therapies in the West.

Complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) and New Age therapies (NAt) are increasingly widespread in the West. Although the variety of therapies they recommend is very extensive, as is the variety of beliefs and practices, there are common ideas shared across both such as the concept of holism and the notion of energy. The case studies examined in this paper, Vittorio and Sol, both suffered from severe personal problems that caused a state of general malaise. They managed to address them through the holistic world. Through their experiences, it is possible to highlight the contradictions of CAM-NAt in the West. While, on one hand, these represent a form of resistance to capitalist culture, on the other there is a risk that CAM-NAt could end up reinforcing capitalistic logic through the establishment of an 'individualistic holism'. The only solution to this situation seems to be a focus on the exercise of personal critical faculties, and an openness to different ways of conceiving the body, the health and diseases, but without, however, being drawn into the moralistic and individualist view that sometimes accompanies these.

[Medical education and medical anthropology in Europe: the cases of Italy and Spain]. / Educación sanitaria y antropología médica en Europa: los casos de Italia y España.

The aim of this article is to compare the development of health education in Italy and Spain from the point of view of the role played by medical anthropology in both countries. The context is provided by the changes in the concept of health education advocated by the UN technical agencies, especially the World Health Organization and Unesco, during the second half of the twentieth century. Despite their many similarities, Italy and Spain underwent different political evolutions over the last century. Therefore, it is interesting to compare both cases and the influence the social sciences had in health education initiatives. In order to assess the role of medical anthropology, the 1958 launch and the development of the Centro Sperimentale per l'Educazione Sanitaria (Perugia, Italy), which was at the forefront of health education in Europe until the 1990s, was reconstructed through oral sources. After a brief description of the scant initiatives regarding health education existing in the Spain of the dictatorship, the influence of the Perusine anthropologists on Spanish health education during the democratic transition is evaluated.

[Literary, biographic and autoethnographic contributions in Spanish medical anthropology: the case of Catalonia]. / Contribuciones literarias, biográficas y autoetnográficas a la antropología médica en España: el caso catalán.

The autoethnographic method has been an important contribution to the development of medical anthropology in Spain. This article first reviews and explores documents published before 1980 that are usually classified as literature and autobiography and are linked to the health-disease-care process, a paradigmatic example of which is Ramona Via's diary Com neixen els Catalans [How Catalans are born] published in 1972. The second part of the article is focused on contributions carried out since the 1980s using the concept of autoethnography, which have as their object the body, health and illness based on a subjective ethnographic experience. This period, unlike the first, is characterized by the emergence of anthropologist authors who have promoted the development of this method, legitimized by the Tarragona School and substantialized in the first Spanish conference of autoethnography in 2015.

Contribuciones literarias, biográficas y autoetnográficas a la antropología médica en España: el caso catalán / Literary, biographic and autoethnographic contributions in Spanish medical anthropology: the case of Catalonia

RESUMEN El método autoetnográfico ha sido un importante aporte al desarrollo de la antropología médica en España. En la primera parte de este artículo, se exploran y revisan documentos habitualmente clasificados como literatura y autobiografías, vinculados a los procesos de salud-enfermedad-atención y publicados antes de 1980, cuyo paradigma es el diario de Ramona Via, Com neixen els Catalans, publicado en 1972. La segunda parte se enfoca en las contribuciones desarrolladas desde la década de 1980, a partir del concepto de autoetnografía, cuyos objetos son el cuerpo, la salud y la enfermedad a partir de la experiencia etnográfica subjetiva. A diferencia del primer periodo, éste se caracteriza por el surgimiento de autores antropólogos que han impulsado el desarrollo de este método legitimado desde la escuela de Tarragona, y concretizado en el primer congreso español de autoetnografía en 2015.

ABSTRACT The autoethnographic method has been an important contribution to the development of medical anthropology in Spain. This article first reviews and explores documents published before 1980 that are usually classified as literature and autobiography and are linked to the health-disease-care process, a paradigmatic example of which is Ramona Via's diary Com neixen els Catalans [How Catalans are born] published in 1972. The second part of the article is focused on contributions carried out since the 1980s using the concept of autoethnography, which have as their object the body, health and illness based on a subjective ethnographic experience. This period, unlike the first, is characterized by the emergence of anthropologist authors who have promoted the development of this method, legitimized by the Tarragona School and substantialized in the first Spanish conference of autoethnography in 2015.

Educación sanitaria y antropología médica en Europa: los casos de Italia y España / Medical education and medical anthropology in Europe: the cases of Italy and Spain

RESUMEN El objetivo de este artículo es comparar el desarrollo de la educación sanitaria en Italia y España desde el punto de vista del papel jugado por la antropología médica en ambos países, en un contexto marcado por los cambios en el concepto de educación sanitaria que propugnaron los organismos técnicos de las Naciones Unidas, en especial la Organización Mundial de la Salud y la Unesco, durante la segunda mitad del siglo XX. A pesar de sus similitudes como países, Italia y España tuvieron evoluciones políticas muy diferentes durante el siglo pasado, por tanto, es interesante comparar ambos casos y la influencia que tuvieron las ciencias sociales en las iniciativas de educación sanitaria. Para valorar el papel de la antropología médica, mediante el uso de fuentes orales, hemos reconstruido la puesta en marcha, en 1958, y el desarrollo del Centro Sperimentale per l'Educazione Sanitaria (Perugia, Italia), que estuvo en la vanguardia de la educación sanitaria en Europa hasta los años noventa. Tras una breve descripción de las escasas iniciativas sobre educación sanitaria en la España de la dictadura, evaluamos la influencia de los antropólogos perusinos en la educación para la salud española durante la transición democrática.

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to compare the development of health education in Italy and Spain from the point of view of the role played by medical anthropology in both countries. The context is provided by the changes in the concept of health education advocated by the UN technical agencies, especially the World Health Organization and Unesco, during the second half of the twentieth century. Despite their many similarities, Italy and Spain underwent different political evolutions over the last century. Therefore, it is interesting to compare both cases and the influence the social sciences had in health education initiatives. In order to assess the role of medical anthropology, the 1958 launch and the development of the Centro Sperimentale per l'Educazione Sanitaria (Perugia, Italy), which was at the forefront of health education in Europe until the 1990s, was reconstructed through oral sources. After a brief description of the scant initiatives regarding health education existing in the Spain of the dictatorship, the influence of the Perusine anthropologists on Spanish health education during the democratic transition is evaluated.