The Transcendent Patterning of Medical Pluralism

Religion and Medical Practices Among Miao Migrants in China

Datos 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 de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen44
Número7
Páginas1-16
Fecha de publicación2025-08-20
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaMedical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0145-9740 • E-ISSN: 1545-5882
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01459740.2025.2545835
PMID40832819
OpenAlexW4413357177
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias 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