Dr. Joseph S. Alter (University of Pittsburg) will conduct research on an alternative medical system in India currently gaining in popularity. The project is designed to understand the correlation between ecology and alternative medicine as an embodied practice, and to analyze the relationship among class status, health and environmentalism in a context of significant social difference and economic disparity. As a popular, broad based form of alternative medicine, Nature Cure involves the therapeutic embodiment of earth, air, water, sunlight and raw foods, thus linking individual biology to the ecology of nature in various ways.
To understand the social, political and economic structure of these links, field research will be conducted over thirteen months at three Nature Cure facilities, a training college and two regional libraries in India, where Nature Cure is an authorized, state funded, popular form of alternative treatment. Research will involve participant observation at each treatment facility as well as participant observation in group health regimens established by client/patients in their respective communities. Interviews will be conducted with resident client/patients before and after scheduled therapy sessions. Data will be analyzed by coding interviews for content analysis and comparing the answers given by patients whose economic and occupational status, and specific disease diagnosis, reflects significant differences within the range of "middle-class" distinctions. Data analysis will focus on the question of how "environmentalism" as articulated and practiced in the therapy, is embodied and in what ways embodied environmentalism is understood and experienced differently by different sectors of the population.
The significance of the research lies in two areas: examining the cognitive and physical impact of the therapy and determining if its affects are differentially received and experienced by members of different classes and therapeutic settings. The research will be of great interest to those involved with identifying alternative therapies.
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE This research study of Nature Cure in India shows how and why a 19th century form of European alternative medicine has become popular in contemporary India. In advocating the exclusive use of water, sunlight, air, earth and raw foods to treat the symptoms of all diseases, Nature Cure is an extreme form of medical intervention based on the idea that all diseases have a single, common cause and that drugs of any kind must be rejected. Obviously this extreme argument is contrary to biomedical science and modern public health, and is not defensible. Treatment using water and sunlight is not effective medicine. However, the research shows that Nature Cure is popular in India precisely because it produces an ecologically grounded way of life for people to respond, comprehensively and effectively, to the suffering caused by chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, osteoarthritis and hypertension. Quite apart from the question of whether or not Nature Cure "cures" anything, the life style it promotes, based on regimented exercise, yoga, relaxation, and especially a low- sodium, low-fat diet of fresh fruits and vegetables is extremely healthy and therefore beneficial. The research shows that it is important to not let cultural beliefs define the terms on which alternative medical practices are understood to be effective. It is more useful, significant and meaningful to understand the ecological and sociological significance of alternative medical practices, as these practices can highlight some of the contradictions and paradoxes in the relationship between medical treatment, life-style diseases and good public health. Even though it is defined as a medical system, what the research shows is that social and cultural practices associated with Nature Cure address many of the problems and limitations of institutionalized medical practice and remedial public health programs and policies. Nature Cure is a kind of environmental health activism which places highest priority on the ecological relationship between people and the natural world, as the natural world is incorporated into everyday practices of modern life. Field study involved extended periods of participatory wellness treatment at Nature Cure facilities in order for the researcher to gain a detailed appreciation for a way of life that involves intensive regimens of hydrotherapy, solar therapy, earth therapy, yoga and dietary practices. Participant observation allowed for the development of rapport with patients and health care providers, and this made it possible to conduct detailed, in-depth interviews with people suffering from heart disease, diabetes and other conditions that are symptoms of modern life. These interviews provided rich insight on individual beliefs and values. In conjunction with these interviews, several large sets of case study samples (n=200) were collected using both a survey instrument administered to patients and medical records from two large clinics. These data provide the empirical basis upon which to understand social and cultural practices in relation to medical diagnoses and outcomes, as well as larger questions of environmental health and ecology.
