Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on Andean households’ strategies in terms of medical pluralism. Despite their existing access to biomedical care, my informants may choose other options linked with traditional medicine.

Paper long abstract:

This paper presents ethnographic research carried out in the city of El Alto, Bolivia. Well-being in El Alto and in the surrounding countryside is defined in relation to harmonious social relations with both people as well as spiritual forces. If a member of the household is ill, the rest of the household are believed to be affected, indicating many inter-connections between concepts of health and the spiritual and religious spheres. The causes of various pathologies reveal unsolved tensions or conflicts among household or neighbourhood members. Difficult relations with spiritual forces can cause someone to be unwell. Illness and bad luck, however, can be affected through a complex process which may involve rituals performed by a yatiri -local shaman, or other means, such as participating and dancing in a religious celebration in honour of a patron saint or engaging in regular acts of faith. Informants interviewed in this study expressed that health and luck can be controlled and changed by treating the spirits better. This paper focuses on encounters with local shamans, but also looks at Andean households' strategies in terms of 'medical pluralism' as defined by Chrisman and Kleinman (1983). Despite their existing access to biomedical care, my informants may choose other options, providing complex insights into a political economy of care and 'resource gap'. This is particularly interesting at this historical moment, when Morales government has proposed to include traditional medicine in the healthcare system.