Abstract
Efforts of traditional acupuncturists in the UK to regulate their practice and standardise their training, led, from the mid-1990s, to the launch of acupuncture undergraduate programmes within, or validated by, universities. It appeared as if by so doing acupuncturists were on course to align themselves with 'scientifically plausible', state-regulated, allied health professionals, a remarkable development considering the marginality of acupuncture practice outside East Asia, and its paradigmatic tensions with biomedicine. But was it really to be? Based on in-depth interviews with higher education acupuncture educators and an analysis of educational documents published by the leading professional body, we explore the way in which this paradigmatic tension is negotiated within a framework that is dominated by biomedicine. By critically revisiting sociology of professions and anti-colonial analysis, we examine an over two decades long journey of acupuncture educators in academic institutions in the UK. Based on this analysis, we point at some of the challenges that acupuncturists faced in higher education that may have restricted the academic legitimisation of acupuncture and that left them in a position of academic marginality and greater exposure to scrutiny, leading to their academic and mainstreaming 'disillusionment'. At the same time, by positioning themselves as 'professional academics' within higher education institutions and demonstrating professionalism, acupuncture educators were able to demonstrate academic and professional 'credibility' and therefore distance themselves from the continuous scrutiny over their 'biomedical fragility'.
Highlights
This research study explores the rise and the decline of acupuncture training programmes in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK during acupuncturists’ efforts to obtain ‘legitimate’ academic status within a system that is dominated by biomedicine
The aim of this study is to explore acupuncture educators’ perceived experience of over two decades in HEIs, and the way paradigmatic and academic tensions with biomedicine and the academic institutions were negotiated within a framework that is designed to accommodate medical sciences
In this study we explored acupuncture educator’s journey in HE in the UK since the mid-1990s, including the challenges that they faced as a medical system that is based on philosophical foundation and theories different to biomedicine, yet is taught within a mainstream institution; the strategies that they enacted to become accepted academic discipline; and their aspirations, achievements and disappointments
Summary
This research study explores the rise and the decline of acupuncture training programmes in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK during acupuncturists’ efforts to obtain ‘legitimate’ academic status within a system that is dominated by biomedicine Central to this investigation are acupuncture educators’ attempts to bridge the gap between institutional demands to standardise and formalise their esoteric knowledge, including the ‘biomedical adjustment’ of their programmes, while maintaining the authenticity of their ancient theories and practices. This has been a dual challenge of operating within an unaccommodating knowledge framework while trying to secure an institutional academic standing to a discipline which its public reputation in Britain has been, for many years, fuelled by ‘curiosity, mysticism, fear, loathing, desperation, or a sense of novelty (Bivins, 2010: 175)’. Traditional acupuncture, one of the branches of CM and the centre of our study, is the most known and widespread practice of traditional medicine worldwide (CAMDOC Alliance, 2010)
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