Western and Traditional Medicine in India, Myanmar and Thailand: Engagement and Contestation

Abstract:Scientific medicine has been inextricably linked to the development of modern state governmentality, ensuring its hegemony in the West and regions colonized by Western powers. In this context, we examine the historical and contested relationship between biomedicine and traditional medicine in three Asian countries—India, Myanmar and Thailand. We argue that selective regulation of a narrowly defined ‘traditional medicine’ subordinates other forms of traditional healing that are incompatible with scientific paradigms and associated metrics of accreditation. Yet, these marginalized forms of ‘folk healing’ that emphasize spiritual dimensions of health increasingly assist with contemporary mental health problems arising from rapid capitalist development.