"Talking fire out of burns": biomedical transgressions and the logic of care

The descriptions of fire charmers' practice, its context, and physicians' stances toward these healing practices demonstrate the resistance of French biomedical institutions toward the full acceptance of the logic of care. I draw on data from observations conducted in a rural area of the Auvergne, France (1996-1999), semistructured interviews with general practitioners, healers, and oncologists collected between 1993 and 2011, and online investigations of fire charming, to provide new insights into the relationships between French physicians and fire charmers. In doing so, I explore the distinction between clinical/empirical practice and scientific knowledge.