@article{Baronov_2009, title={The Role of Historical-Cultural Formations within World-Systems Analysis: Reframing the Analysis of Biomedicine in East Africa}, volume={15}, url={https://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/jwsr/article/view/317}, DOI={10.5195/jwsr.2009.317}, abstractNote={This essay introduces a novel analytical concept for world-systems analysis, historical-cultural formations, for the purpose of analyzing reciprocal global cultural exchanges across the capitalist world-system. This is done through four basic procedures. First, the perspective of world-systems analysis is adopted for the purpose of analyzing biomedicine in world-historical context and biomedicine itself is re-conceptualized as a historical-cultural formation across a single capitalist world-system. Second, in order to conceptually incorporate historical-cultural formations, the basic analytical framework of world-systems analysis is expanded to include cultural forms as integral features of the capitalist world-system, parallel with economic and political structures. Third, biomedicine is framed as an ontological whole, comprised of multiple, embedded ontological spheres that define it as a dynamic cultural form subject to ongoing change and development. Fourth, biomedicine?s journey to East Africa is framed as a facet of East Africa?s incorporation into the capitalist world-system ? a necessary prelude to the ?globalization? of biomedicine as a historical-cultural formation. Ultimately, contemporary East African medical systems are discovered to be but the latest incarnation of an evolving, global biomedicine ? understood as a singular historical-cultural formation across the capitalist world-system.}, number={2}, journal={Journal of World-Systems Research}, author={Baronov, David}, year={2009}, month={Aug.}, pages={147–166} }