The Association Jeunes Études Indiennes (AJEI), in collaboration with the Centre for South Asian and Himalayan Studies (CESAH), is organizing a doctoral workshop in South Asian Studies on the theme “States, Religion, and Bodies : Current issue in South Asian Medical Social Sciences.” The event will take place on January 20–21, 2026, at Campus Condorcet (Paris–Aubervilliers).
Organiser : Marwan Attalah (UCLouvain/UQAM) and Daphné Reguiessé.
While we can rely on a substantial body of classical works—such as the volume edited by Charles Leslie, Asian Medical Systems: A Comparative Study (1977), Francis Zimmermann’s work on Ayurvedic knowledge and bone-setters (1978), David Hardiman’s work on the role of Christian missions in healthcare (2006), Lawrence Cohen study on how Alzheimer has been perceived and managed in India (1998), Sarah Hodges work on the way colonial agendas, markets and local social dynamics shaped the circulation of birth control in South India (2017) and Veena Das’s writings on suffering and health (2015)— it is clear that social science research on health and medicine in South Asia has grown considerably in recent years.
This growing body of scholarship draws on a wide range of approaches and perspectives, including ethnographic, economic, sociological, and historical. This field includes detailed ethnographies conducted in hospitals (Jullien et al., 2019), morgues and maternal care centres (Jullien, 2019 ; Provost, 2018), as well as studies on issues such as mental health care (Bayetti et al., 2019), public health governance, hospital accreditation procedures (Lefebvre, 2019), religious exorcisms (Bindi et Giménez Béliveau, 2022) and the fight against rabies (Nadal, 2020). Researchers have approached these themes through various disciplines and theoretical perspectives, including feminist and decolonial analyses. At the same time, critical attention has been paid to the political, historical, and institutional processes through which local medical systems, such as Ayurveda (Berger, 2013 ; Khalikova, 2017), have been reconstituted, standardised, and legitimised within state-funded structures, while others, such as indigenous systems, remain marginalised or continue to struggle for official recognition (Albert, 2014 ; Županov et Guenzi, 2021). In these complex and pluralistic therapeutic landscapes, a multitude of actors, including healers, shamans, priests, gurus and herbalists, yogi actively participate, shaping the dynamic interaction between diverse epistemologies, cosmologies and healing practices (Joshi, 2012 ; Naraindas et al., 2014 ; Voix, 2020). Building on these issues—as well as on your own research interests and analytical perspectives—this workshop will provide a space to deepen collective reflection on the social, political, and cultural dimensions of health and medicine in South Asia.
This workshop is open to Master and PhD students from all disciplines within the social sciences who are engaged in South Asian studies. It aims to offer participants a valuable opportunity to engage with fellow researchers in a collegial setting and also meet seniors scholars.
This two-day workshop will begin with participants’ presentations and collective discussions, offering a space to share ongoing research, receive feedback, and engage in comparative reflection across disciplines and field sites. The second day will take the form of roundtable discussions focusing on the practical and theoretical dimensions of fieldwork, including challenges related to data collection, interpretation, and ethical considerations in medical and social research
Application process: To apply, students must send a document that includes their institutional affiliation, the title of their thesis and the name of their supervisor, the title of their paper, and a 250-word abstract. Applications should be e-mailed to ajei.office@gmail.com by December 19, 2025.
Participants must be available to attend in person.
Organizers will notify all applicants by December 24. Successful applicants are expected to become members of the AJEI.
Selected bibliography :
Albert, S. (2014). Medical Pluralism among the Indigenous Peoples of Meghalaya, Northeast India – Implications for Health Policy [Doctor of Public Health (DrPH), University of London]. https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/1856013/.
Bayetti, C., Jadhav, S. et Jain, S. (2019). Mapping Mental Well-Being in India. Initial Reflections on the Role of Psychiatric Spaces. Dans C. Jullien, B. Lefebvre et F. Provost (dir.), L’hôpital en Asie du Sud : Politiques de santé, pratiques de soin (p. 133‑177). Éditions de l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.editionsehess.23476
Berger, R. (2013). Ayurveda Made Modern: Political Histories of Indigenous Medicine in North India, 1900-1955 (2013e édition). Palgrave Macmillan.
Bindi, S. et Giménez Béliveau, V. (2022). Exorcisms, extraction of unwanted entities, and other spiritual struggles around the body: A comparative perspective Exorcismes, extractions d’entités indésirées et autres combats spirituels autour du corps: une perspective comparative. Social Compass, 69(4), 443‑480. https://doi.org/10.1177/00377686221147797
Cohen, L. (1998). No aging in India: Alzheimer’s, the bad family, and other modern things. Univ of California Press.
Das, V. (2015). Affliction: Health, Disease, Poverty. Fordham University Press.
Hardiman, D. (2006). Christian therapy : medical missionaries and the adivasis of western India, 1880-1930 (p. 137‑167). Rodopi. http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b2102140~S15
Hodges, S. (2017). Contraception, colonialism and commerce: birth control in South India, 1920–1940. Routledge.
Joshi, V. (2012). A Matter of Belief: Christian Conversion and Healing in North-East India (1er édition). Berghahn Books.
Jullien, C. (2019). Du bidonville à l’hôpital : Nouveaux enjeux de la maternité au Rajasthan. Du bidonville à l’hôpital : Nouveaux enjeux de la maternité au Rajasthan. Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme. https://books.openedition.org/editionsmsh/18401
Jullien, C., Lefebvre, B. et Provost, F. (dir.). (2019). L’hôpital en Asie du Sud : Politiques de santé, pratiques de soin. L’hôpital en Asie du Sud : Politiques de santé, pratiques de soin. Éditions de l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales.
Khalikova, V. R. (2017). The Ayurveda of Baba Ramdev: Biomoral Consumerism, National Duty and the Biopolitics of ‘Homegrown’ Medicine in India. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 40(1), 105‑122. https://doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2017.1266987
Lefebvre, B. (2019). L’accréditation hospitalière et la qualité des soins en Inde : Entre logiques commerciales et objectifs de santé publique. Dans C. Jullien et F. Provost (dir.), L’hôpital en Asie du Sud : Politiques de santé, pratiques de soin (p. 31‑56). Éditions de l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.editionsehess.23446
Leslie, C. M. (1977). Asian Medical Systems: A Comparative Study. University of California Press.
Nadal, D. (2020). Rabies in the Streets: Interspecies Camaraderie in Urban India. Penn State University Press.
Naraindas, H., Quack, J. et Sax, W. S. (2014). Asymmetrical Conversations: Contestations, Circumventions, and the Blurring of Therapeutic Boundaries (1er édition). Berghahn Books.
Provost, F. (2018). Écrire « la cause sans la manière » de la mort ? Un regard anthropologique sur la rédaction des rapports d’expertise médico-légale en Inde. Sciences sociales et santé, 36(4), 15‑39. https://doi.org/10.1684/sss.2018.0123
Voix, R. (2020). Hindu ascetics and the political in contemporary India. Dans Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies (p. 146‑155). Routledge.
Zimmermann, F. (1978). From classic texts to learned practice: Methodological remarks on the study of Indian medicine. Social Science & Medicine. Part B: Medical Anthropology, 12, 97‑103. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7987(78)90016-9
Županov, I. G. et Guenzi, C. (dir.). (2021). Divins remèdes: Médecine et religion en Asie du Sud. Éditions de l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales.
