LOST IN TRANSLATION:UNDERSTANDING EXPERTISE IN MEDICAL AND HEALING ENCOUNTERS

Abstract

The dominance of orthodox medicine as the principle health care system in Western-style societies is largely due to ideas constructed around individualistic ideologies as well as the privileging of scientific knowledge and technological advances. This has led to an environment where expertise relating to health and illness is often considered the domain of the orthodox medical profession as opposed to alternative/complementary practitioners and patients. My research into patients combining both orthodox and alternative/complementary medicines reveals a complex web of beliefs where patients describe their expertise in three main areas: they possess expert knowledge relating to their bodies; they have the ability to make a diagnosis; and are capable of choosing a practitioner most suited to their health requirements. This paper details frustrations patients experience when their own knowledge is often ignored or discounted by health practitioners and promotes the idea that what we need for a more tolerant health environment is the ability to translate our ideas across a variety of expert discourses.