New Age in the hospital: An ethnography of pain relief techniques in children in Pediatric Palliative Care of Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Abstract

Abstract: The work is about syncretism and semantic reworking between New Age and biomedicine. Based on an ethnographic fieldwork carried out during 2015 in a public hospital in Buenos Aires City, it analyses the intermingling between spiritual’s spheres and health. Following the daily work of women who are part of the Paediatric Palliative Care and perform "non-pharmacological therapies" in hospitals in order to relieve pain, it describes the relationship of New Age techniques with the medical instruments of pediatrics.

Keywords:
New Age; hospital; pediatric palliative care; biomedice; pain.