ABSTRACT
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) refers to a diverse range of therapeutic practices that people can call upon, some sanctioned by the state and others operating on the margins of the therapeutic marketplace. These may have profoundly different assumptions about disease causation and healing, as well as diverse origins and historical trajectories imbued with special significance for particular communities. People in their everyday health practices often make sense of this diversity by taking a pragmatic approach to the use of CAM and biomedicine.
This chapter identifies important trends in the reception of CAM and its different positionings in the medical landscapes around the world. With a particular focus on Western Europe and South Asia, it explores the uptake of CAM, the relationship of CAM to orthodox medicine or biomedicine, and processes that shape the contemporary face of CAM practices.
