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Intangible Cultural Heritage and Traditional Medical Knowledge: Safeguarding Healing and Medical Practices in a Globalized World book cover

1st Edition

Intangible Cultural Heritage and Traditional Medical Knowledge Safeguarding Healing and Medical Practices in a Globalized World

Edited By Lucia Candelise, Serena Bindi Copyright 2026
226 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

226 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
This compelling volume addresses key issues at the critical intersection of intangible cultural heritage and traditional medical practices, highlighting the urgent need for their preservation in an increasingly globalized world. The chapters within this book explore key themes such as the paradox of authenticity versus rationalization in traditional healing, the political implications of... Read more

1.     Introduction

Lucia Candelise

 

2.     The Politics of Tradition. How Ethnologists Participated in the Heritage-Making of a Non-Academic Medical Practice in Switzerland

Julie Perrin

 

3.     Commemorations without Inheritance: Folk Medicine, Mediators of Healing, and Politics of Memory

Massimiliano Minelli

 

4.     Indigenous Traditional Medicine in Mexico: Reflections on its Validity and Heritage Process

Susanna Carolina Guzmán-Rosas

 

5.     Beyond Domination: Valorization and Use of Indigenous Medicines in Chile

Alejandra Carreño Calderón & Alexandra Obach King

 

6.     Heritage and Healing. What happens to the healing dimension of rituals in heritage-making processes in North India?

     Serena Bindi

 

7.     Medical heritage and nation building in Myanmar

Celine Coderey

 

8.     Traditional Chinese Medicine, Between Cultural Heritage and Public Health

Wang Li & Shao Hua 

 

9.     Medical tradition as a means of defending identity. The case of acupuncture and moxibustion heritage process at UNESCO

Lucia Candelise & Frédéric Obringer

 

Biography

Lucia Candelise is a Medical Anthropologist and Historian of Medicine. She is a Senior Researcher at the Institut des Humanités en Médecine CHUV/Unil, Lausanne, and at CEPED (Centre Population et Développement, IRD/Université Paris Cité). She is also Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Anthropologie & Santé. Her research focuses on the circulation of Chinese medical practices outside of China, particularly in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, as well as on medical knowledge considered as intangible cultural heritage.

Serena Bindi is an Associate Professor in Anthropology at Paris Cité University, a Researcher at the Center for Cultural Anthropology CANTHEL, and an Associate Researcher at the Center for South Asian and Himalayan Studies (EHESS/CNRS). Her research explores religion, health, and social change in India, particularly in Uttarakhand. She leads international projects and has published extensively on healing rituals, therapeutic pluralism, and healthcare transformations in South Asia.

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