| My dissertation, entitled "The Regulation and Professionalization of Herbal Medicine" involves one of the first in-depth examinations of the practice of herbal medicine in Canada. Specifically, I explore the intersection of herbalists and herbal medicine with current provincial and federal regulations through two case studies of the efforts of herbalists to professionalize and attain statutory self-regulation in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. In addition to an analysis of key policy and practice documents, I have conducted a series of in-depth interviews with herbalists, including key stakeholders across Canada and practitioners in the provinces of British Columbia and Saskatchewan. I have further explored the implications of federal Natural Health Product regulation for herbalists' practices and aspirations. This study is framed within the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and professions literatures, with particular attention given to the theoretical perspectives represented by social/occupational closure, class/congruency and governmentality.;Empirically, this study adds an important dimension to the CAM and professions literatures by incorporating an analysis of the role of the product of herbal medicine in relation to the profession or professionalization of herbalists. Theoretically, this focus lends itself to analysis vis-a-vis several professions' theories and concepts available in existing theory (namely, closure, congruency and governmentality), a synthesis that is largely absent in existing literature. |
