Events

CHAIRPERSON

Assoc Prof Maitrii Aung Thwin, Department of History, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

At the crossroads of medical and religious anthropology, this paper examines how the Buddhist population in Rakhine State, Myanmar perceive and cope with the uncertainties of health. The aim of this presentation is two-fold. The first aim is to show that the way people deal with health often varies, reflecting the pluralistic nature of the local therapeutic system (a combination of Buddhism, Western biomedicine, traditional herbal medicine, astrology, alchemy, spirits cults etc.) and the relationships of hierarchy and complementarity through which these components are related. This reflection questions the boundaries commonly established in the literature between religion and medicine as well as between Buddhism and so-called “non Buddhist practices” such as astrology and spirits cults.

The second aim is to stress that people’s coping strategies are largely determined by socio-structural factors, people’s biographies, past experiences, and the degree of accessibility to health care (geographically, economically, socio-culturally). This is particularly relevant in the case of Western biomedicine. Although representing the core of the official national health system, biomedicine presents many shortcomings and weaknesses that reduce its accessibility. These deficiencies within the biomedical services facilitate the persistence of other healing traditions which are undergoing transformations in order to address new emerging values and needs. Since these healing traditions are not always able to fill the gaps within biomedicine, the implementation of urgent country-wide medical reform is crucial in order to reduce the social and geographical inequalities that arise in the attempt by these communities to secure good quality biomedical services.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Céline Coderey holds a M.A in Psychology from the University of Lausanne as well as a M.A and a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Aix-Marseille. She works in the field of Medical Anthropology in Myanmar. During her Master and PhD, she studied the different conceptions of health/disease and the therapeutic practices existing in Rakhine (Myanmar). With a postdoctoral grant from the Swiss National Fund, Céline has then conducted research on the implementation and appropriation of biomedical practices in Myanmar mainly in the field of reproductive health and mental health.

In January 2014, Céline has commenced a postdoctoral joint appointment at NUS. At the Asia Research Institute she is conducting research on the way the political and social transformation Myanmar is living affects both the healers’ practices and the patients’ health-seeking process; at Tembusu College she has co-taught the Seminar Biomedicine and Singapore Society and will soon co-teach a new Seminar on Time.

REGISTRATION

Admission is free. We would greatly appreciate if you RSVP to Ms Tay Minghua via email: minghua.tay@nus.edu.sg.