Phantoms and inflammations: reflections on the intersections between therapeutics and religion in India

Abstract

This article looks at the presence and key role of nonhuman beings endowed with intention in the diagnosis and cure of illness. Based on the framework of studies of pluralism and itineraries of healing, the article reflects on the persistence of the category of the phantom – a nonhuman entity endowed with intentionality – in such paths of curation, alongside biomedicine and its diagnostic categories. The data upon which this article is based were collected over the course of numerous ethnographic field visits carried out between 2005 and 2015 in a network of villages located in the Garhwal region of the Uttarkashi district, in the area northwest of Uttarkhand, India. Using these data, the article attempts to reflect on the reasons why patients, in certain contexts throughout the diagnosis and healing process, seek out different specialists, often at the same time.

Keywords

• Religión
• Terapéutica
• India.