The Transcendent Patterning of Medical Pluralism

Religion and Medical Practices Among Miao Migrants in China

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4904493
AutoresShixian Wen (0000-0003-2104-235X, South China Normal University), Wen Shixian (South China Normal University), Orlando Woods (0000-0001-9218-1264, Singapore Management University), Q Gao (0000-0001-5784-6494, Sun Yat-sen University, autor correspondente)
Ano2025
Volume44
Fascículo7
Páginas1-16
Data de publicação2025-08-20
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoMedical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0145-9740 • E-ISSN: 1545-5882
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01459740.2025.2545835
PMID40832819
OpenAlexW4413357177
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas33

Based on ethnographic fieldwork on the medical practices of Miao internal migrants in China, in this article we critique the hierarchical and discrete ontologies of "pluralism" prevalent in anthropological studies of medical pluralism. It examines how Miao migrants construct an informal pluralistic medical system that integrates shamanistic ritual healing, herbalism, and "folk" biomedicine within a pragmatically grounded yet spiritually coherent framework rooted in Miao religion and cosmologies. Furthermore, we explore how their medical-seeking practices, grounded in a transcendent ontology of well-being, operate through affective economies of trust and renqing , thereby enhancing their medical resilience and socio-economic embeddedness into local society

Alternative medicine · China · Epistemology · Pluralism (philosophy · Political science · Sociology · Spirituality · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Medicine · Migration, Health and Trauma · Philosophy · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies