Transnationalism and Changing Medical Practice Paradigms in Exile Tibetan Medicine and the West

Transnational medical practice is a common phenomenon in contemporary Tibetan medicine, especially among exile practitioners in India and Nepal.

Both in the form of medical tours abroad or local treatments of foreign patients and via telemedicine, doctors provide transnational medical care.

However, as a result of the deterritorialization of practice and practitioners or new phenomena like telemedicine and innovations in medical treatment options, varying degrees of changes in contrast to national treatment paradigms occur that raise questions about the efficacy or benefit for patients.

This research seeks to explore and analyse transnational Tibetan medical practice and asks to what extent this trend transforms essential principles, perceptions, and representations of Tibetan medicine.

The aim is to determine and question tendencies towards a modern or global Tibetan medicine, following Wujastyk and Smith's categories of modern and global Ayurveda.

Using the methods of participant observation and semi-structured interviews with Tibetan medical doctors and patients, I will conduct a 13 months long multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in India, Nepal, and Europe.

Ultimately, the research will help to understand the challenges to and possibilities for globalised medical practice, contributing to the growing anthropological interest in global health. Keywords: Tibetan medicine, transnational medical practice, therapeutic travel, telemedicine