title: From healing to witchcraft: on ritual speech and roboticization in the hospital.
abstract: Healthcare Information Technology (HIT), touted as a panacea by U.S. political actors ranging from Newt Gingrich to Barack Obama, is central to emerging forms of healthcare governance which Holmes et al.-in their critique of the institutionalization of magical thinking brought about by Orwellian techno-Newspeak-have provocatively labeled fascistic. Drawing from data collected over 3 years of working with and teaching continuing education (CE) courses for thousands of registered nurses as lead political educator for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), I argue that HIT is an integral component of a broader technological restructuring of healthcare and thus society, both of which are part of a social discourse that is tied to a transformative system of ritual speech, with profound implications for healthcare work, patient health, and democracy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016, USA. pine@american.edu
authors.forename: Adrienne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pine
mesh_terms: D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D002562:Ceremonial Behavior; D032821:Commodification; D016265:Conflict of Interest; D003625:Data Collection; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D004506:Education, Nursing; D006265:Health Care Coalitions; D015277:Hotlines; D006801:Humans; D008273:Magic; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000193:education*; D008602:Mental Healing; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011057:Politics; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012371:Robotics; D013060:Speech; D014481:United States; D018599:Witchcraft