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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Biomedical service delivery for women in Northern Pakistan : subtitle ideological contrasts and social resistance Varley, Emma E. A.
Abstract
The recent introduction of biomedicine and clinical practice in Northern Pakistan was based upon the assumption that biomedicine would thrive in Northern Pakistan's pluralistic context of traditional medicines. Practitioners envisioned that biomedicine's efficaciousness and secular underpinnings would make it amenable to any ethnic or faith group. While ample studies have indicated that biomedical pharmaceuticals have been adopted with great success despite gender variables (Sweetser, 1993), biomedical clinical practice and its treatment of women in conservative Islamic societies has been more problematic. Despite the best efforts of national and transnational biomedical service initiatives, rural women in Northern Pakistan exhibit some of the developing world's worst indicators for health status, and per capita access and utilization rates of biomedical service delivery. This thesis contends that secular biomedicine's incompatibility with Islamic aspects of socialized gender models has resulted in Sunni Northern Pakistan's preference for the multiplicity of affordable folk and religious healing practices available to them. Professional biomedicine, unlike traditional Islamic therapeutic systems, does not embed or articulate local systems of social relatedness. Because biomedicine neither integrates nor sustains social relatedness and stands outside of the network and norms of social relations, Northern Pakistani society has mobilized women and their access to biomedical service delivery as a point of resistance in their larger efforts to modify unislamic social interventions.
Item Metadata
Title |
Biomedical service delivery for women in Northern Pakistan : subtitle ideological contrasts and social resistance
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
2002
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Description |
The recent introduction of biomedicine and clinical practice in Northern Pakistan was based upon
the assumption that biomedicine would thrive in Northern Pakistan's pluralistic context of
traditional medicines. Practitioners envisioned that biomedicine's efficaciousness and secular
underpinnings would make it amenable to any ethnic or faith group. While ample studies have
indicated that biomedical pharmaceuticals have been adopted with great success despite gender
variables (Sweetser, 1993), biomedical clinical practice and its treatment of women in conservative
Islamic societies has been more problematic. Despite the best efforts of national and transnational
biomedical service initiatives, rural women in Northern Pakistan exhibit some of the developing
world's worst indicators for health status, and per capita access and utilization rates of biomedical
service delivery. This thesis contends that secular biomedicine's incompatibility with Islamic aspects
of socialized gender models has resulted in Sunni Northern Pakistan's preference for the multiplicity
of affordable folk and religious healing practices available to them. Professional biomedicine, unlike
traditional Islamic therapeutic systems, does not embed or articulate local systems of social
relatedness. Because biomedicine neither integrates nor sustains social relatedness and stands outside
of the network and norms of social relations, Northern Pakistani society has mobilized women and
their access to biomedical service delivery as a point of resistance in their larger efforts to modify
unislamic social interventions.
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Extent |
3911449 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-09-29
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0099670
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
2002-11
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.