Alternative healers and magistres of the North - the complex web of alternative healing in contemporary Greece

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Project objective

Research objectives and content Healing and magic are incorporated in Greek culture and most Greeks at some point in their life will consult a healer or magistra. The influence of magic and healing on Greek life brings a different previously unexplored aspect of Greek culture. This research will illuminate transformations and changes in the Greek culture as well as provide an examination of this amazingly complex web of healing and magic in relation to the minority groups in Northern Greece The project will address how these healers effect the Greek health system and the relation between alternative healing and Greek lifestyle. Training content (objective, benefit and expected impact) The understanding of alternative medical practices and beliefs is increasingly important in the European context where costly biomedical care is often ineffective. This is so because complementary practices often rest on traditional, non-scientific systems of belief that cause non-compliance, partial compliance or lack of timely resort to biomedicine. State medical administrators need to understand these indigenous, peripheral networks of healers and beliefs about healing in order to treat populations effectively and economically. The dilemmas that arise in this Greek case are entirely comparable to situations in other EU countries where there have been perennial skirmishes between complementary medical practitioners and the scientific medical doctors. This research promises to shed new light on this important problem. Links with industry / industrial relevance (22)

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Participants

• UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON · LONDONCoordinatorUnited Kingdom

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