Project Details
Description (abstract)
This doctoral dissertation examines medical practices and therapeutic collectivism among refugees in the Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement in southwestern Uganda. The study investigates how refugees use and combine different forms of treatment during prolonged displacement. In the area, several parallel healthcare systems exist, including biomedicine (health centers and hospitals), traditional healing, and religious healing.
The research is based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork. Data is collected through participant observation in clinics, homes, shrines, churches, herbal medicine preparation sites, and community gatherings. In addition, individual interviews are conducted and group discussions are organized. The study examines how treatment decisions are made, on what grounds different healers are considered trustworthy, and what kinds of moral reflections are associated with treatment. Attention is also paid to cooperation and possible tensions between different forms of care.
The study contributes to discussions in medical anthropology on medical pluralism and explanatory models of illness. It develops the concept of therapeutic collectivism to analyze how care is organized collectively in a refugee environment. Contrary to what is often assumed in humanitarian work, treatment pathways are not individual and linear. Refugees make decisions together with family members, neighbors, and religious groups. The study produces new knowledge and theory for medical anthropology and helps develop culturally sensitive health services in refugee camps.
The research is based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork. Data is collected through participant observation in clinics, homes, shrines, churches, herbal medicine preparation sites, and community gatherings. In addition, individual interviews are conducted and group discussions are organized. The study examines how treatment decisions are made, on what grounds different healers are considered trustworthy, and what kinds of moral reflections are associated with treatment. Attention is also paid to cooperation and possible tensions between different forms of care.
The study contributes to discussions in medical anthropology on medical pluralism and explanatory models of illness. It develops the concept of therapeutic collectivism to analyze how care is organized collectively in a refugee environment. Contrary to what is often assumed in humanitarian work, treatment pathways are not individual and linear. Refugees make decisions together with family members, neighbors, and religious groups. The study produces new knowledge and theory for medical anthropology and helps develop culturally sensitive health services in refugee camps.
| Status | Active |
|---|---|
| Effective start/end date | 01/01/2025 → 31/12/2028 |