Abstract
Drawing on my ethnography of rabbinically mediated fertility treatments for observant Jewish couples in Israel, I illuminate two simultaneous processes: the koshering of medical care and the medicalization of rabbinic law. My findings show how hands-on rabbinic interventions transform doctor-patient relations into rabbi-doctor-patient relations and introduce a network of power relations into clinical practice, at times empowering and at times disempowering patients. This case prompts a reconsideration of scholars' tendency to view biomedicine in hegemonic terms.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 662-680 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | American Ethnologist |
Volume | 37 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2010 |
Keywords
- Authoritative knowledge
- Israel
- Medicalization]
- Power relations
- Religious Judaism
- [Assisted conception
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Anthropology