Ethnomedicine and Tribal Healing Practices in India - Challenges and Possibilities of Recognition and Integration

This book examines various aspects of ethnomedicine and tribal healing practices, including its importance for inclusion and integration from a health systems perspective. Tribal healing practices is an under-studied component in healthcare system, health policy and health systems research. The book consists of original research papers based on empirical studies done by anthropologists, sociologists, public health practitioners and research scientists in various parts of India. It discusses issues of non-codified folk healing, with a focus on the therapeutic ideas and practices of tribal communities, located in anthropological theory and methods. It has a balance of empirical papers, review and theoretical papers,  not only explaining 'what is inside the healing practices' but also touching upon the question of 'why' and delving into 'what should be' looking into the possibility to apply it for a larger good i.e., health care for all. This book discusses several important issues related to legitimacy, evidence and efficacy, recognition, certification and integration, protection and preservation, bio-piracy and bioprospecting, benefit sharing and intellectual property rights, sustainable use of medicinal herbs and conservation of nature and natural resources, biodiversity and possibilities of mainstreaming tribal healing. It is of interest to students and researchers from medical anthropology, medical sociology, cultural geography, liberal studies, tribal studies, ecology, sustainability and development and public health.

Dr. Sunita Reddy, Ph.D. in Anthropology with two decades of teaching experience and teaching at Jawaharlal Nehru University for the past 15 years. She has published many research papers in national and international peer reviewed journals and contributed papers in edited volumes. Her areas of research are disasters, women and child health, medical tourism, surrogacy, ethnomedicine and child abuse. She has presented more than 100 papers in the national and international seminars and conferences. She served as Deputy Director (R&D), School of Social Sciences and as Adjunct Faculty, of Special Centre for Disaster Research, Jawaharlal Nehru University. She is the author of a Book 'Clash of Waves: Post Tsunami Relief and Rehabilitation in Andaman and Nicobar Islands'  Indus Publication 2012, editor of the books ' Marginalisation in Globalising Delhi: Issues of Land, Livelihood and Health' Springer 2016, and 'The Asian Tsunami and Post Disaster Aid,' Springer 2018. She is Founder Chairperson of Anthropos India Foundation and Honorary President of SATAT, a national NGO working with Women and Children in New Delhi. She participated in national debates on surrogacy in many national TV channels. She has many awards in sports and co-curricular activities too and recently received 'Women Empowerment Award- 2021' on the International Women's day by DELSA and Bhagidari Jan Sahyog Samiti.

 

Dr. Nemthianngai Guite is an Associate Professor in the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has taught in the Department of Social Work, Delhi University as an Assistant Professor from March 2005 to July 2016 (11 years). She was awarded the Fulbright Nehru Post Doctoral Fellowship by USIEF in 2016 and Shastri Mobility Programme by Shastri Indo Canadian Institute (SICI) in 2018. She has organised bi-national online conference funded by SICI (2022). She has attended national and international conferences, presented papers; and published in peer-reviewed journals on primary health care and indigenous medicine, Indigenous healing systems; Global Discourses on Biodiversity and Indigenous Medicinal knowledge, health care social work practice, maternal and child health and health issues concerning indigenous communities of India's northeastern region. She authored the books 'Indigenous Medicine and Health Care: A Study among Paite Tribe in Manipur' (2011) and 'Global Discourse and Local Realities towards Indigenous Medicine' (2014). She undertook and completed various research projects funded by organisations like Oxfam India (2014), Save the Children (2015), IGSSS (Indo Global Social Service Society) (2015) and ICSSR (2021; 2022). 

 

Dr. Bamdev Subedi is Medical Anthropologist with interest in public health issues. He holds an M.A. in Anthropology from the Tribhuvan University and M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Social Sciences in Health from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has more than a decade of working experience in the health and development sector in Nepal. His research interests include traditional medicine, medical pluralism and the political economy of health. His M.Phil. work was on the 'Indigenous Healing Practices' and his PhD on 'Medical Pluralism.' He has presented a dozen papers in seminars and conferences and has published half a dozen research papers in edited volumes and research journals. Currently, he is working on his forthcoming book Medical Pluralism in Nepal.