Kira Schmidt Stiedenroth is assistant professor of Anthropology at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, where she coordinates the Master's program 'Health and Society in South Asia'. Her teaching and research interests lie mainly in medical anthropology, with a particular focus on the anthropology of drugs and pharmaceuticals, South Asian healing practices, and (forced) migration studies.

INTRODUCTION, MULTIPLICITY, PRACTICE ONTOLOGY, AND LOOPING EFFECTS, UNANI AND TRADITIONAL MEDICINE IN SOUTH ASIA, FROM THE TOPIC TO FIELDWORK, CHAPTER 1 - A SYSTEM OF MEDICINE?, OFFICIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF UNANI MEDICINE, UNANI PRACTITIONERS, TEXTUAL SOURCES OF AUTHORITY, SYSTEMATIZATION AND LOOPING EFFECTS, CHAPTER 2 - AUTHORITY, ORIGINALITY, AND THE LIMITS OF STANDARDIZATION, CREATION AND TRANSMISSION OF MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE, DEGREES AND (UN-)OFFICIAL PRACTICE, DEFYING STANDARDS, CHAPTER 3 - BEYOND HUMORALISM, FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF UNANI MEDICINE, FINDING THE ROOT CAUSE OF DISEASE, THERAPEUTIC PRACTICES, HUMORALISM AND LOOPING EFFECTS, CHAPTER 4 - THE APPROPRIATION OF MODERN SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES AND CONCEPTS, A CASE OF BIOMEDICALIZATION?, USING MODERN DIAGNOSTIC METHODS, CHAPTER 5 - SCIENCE AND THE QUEST FOR ACCEPTANCE AND RECOGNITION, SCIENCE AS MEANS FOR RECOGNITION, VALIDATING UNANI THROUGH MODERN SCIENCE, CHAPTER 6 - UNANI MEDICINE AND MUSLIMS IN INDIA, UNANI MEDICINE AND MUSLIM CULTURE, ISLAMIC MEDICINE?, SECULAR OR ISLAMIC? UNANI AND PROPHETIC MEDICINE, CONCLUSIONS, BIBLIOGRAPHY, INDEX.