Transdisciplinary Research on Cancer-Healing Systems Between Biomedicine and the Maya of Guatemala

A Tool for Reciprocal Reflexivity in a Multi-Epistemological Setting

Bibliographic Data

ID4720366
AuthorsMónica Berger-González (0000-0002-8650-989X, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, corresponding author), Michael Stauffacher (0000-0001-9724-6741, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland), Jakob Zinsstag (0000-0002-8899-6097, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Zurich, Switzerland), Peter Edwards (0000-0002-4527-9186, Singapore-ETH Centre, Singapore), Pius Krütli (0000-0001-5807-1811, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland)
Year2016
Volume26
Issue1
Pages77-91
Publication date2016-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQualitative Health Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1049-7323 • E-ISSN: 1552-7557
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1049732315617478
PMID26679941
OpenAlexW2217406906
LanguageEN
Citations received19
References cited30

Transdisciplinarity (TD) is a participatory research approach in which actors from science and society work closely together. It offers means for promoting knowledge integration and finding solutions to complex societal problems, and can be applied within a multiplicity of epistemic systems. We conducted a TD process from 2011 to 2014 between indigenous Mayan medical specialists from Guatemala and Western biomedical physicians and scientists to study cancer. Given the immense cultural gap between the partners, it was necessary to develop new methods to overcome biases induced by ethnocentric behaviors and power differentials. This article describes this intercultural cooperation and presents a method of reciprocal reflexivity (Bidirectional Emic-Etic tool) developed to overcome them. As a result of application, researchers observed successful knowledge integration at the epistemic level, the social-organizational level, and the communicative level throughout the study. This approach may prove beneficial to others engaged in facilitating participatory health research in complex intercultural settings

Biomedicine · Citizen journalism · Emic and etic · Epistemology · Ethnocentrism · Indigenous · Maya · Political science · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Transdisciplinarity · Anthropology · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration

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