Paper short abstract:

The following work reflects on different forms and expressions of popular and traditional medicine that arise in contexts of international displacement, especially to compensate for the absence of equitable healthcare. It is based on the health experiences of Latin American migrants in Spain.

Paper long abstract:

Managing and controlling international migration is undoubtedly one of the main concerns within the international agenda, especially in terms of civil and political rights. Regarding health, governmental response to large population flows —especially in the Global North— still represents great limitations, failing (accidentally or deliberately) to provide adequate, egalitarian, and affordable care to those people who do not qualify within the legal/normative schemes of citizenship.

Faced with this scenery of structural inequality and administrative abandonment, migrant populations resort to numerous self-managed practices, community assistance networks and informal structures (both local and transnational) to share/distribute medical goods and knowledge, hoping to solve or palliate their health problems. The following work aims to analyse different forms and expressions of popular medicine that arise in contexts of international displacement, especially to compensate for the absence of equitable healthcare. Based on cultural principles of cooperation and reciprocity, the importance of such initiatives is not only pragmatic in terms of their ability to resolve ailments but also represents a source of consolation and mutual support, re-establishing the feeling of social and civic belonging.

The material and reflections here presented derive from ethnographic research on the health/disease/care-neglect processes of Latin American people living in Spain, focusing particularly on the continuity of traditional healing practices and the health identities forged around the concepts of inheritance, memory, and resistance.