The PluriMed Research Group is an interdisciplinary collective based at the Highland Institute, dedicated to advancing critical inquiry into medical pluralism, therapeutic ecologies, and the intersections of formal and informal health knowledge systems. Anchored in rigorous ethnographic research and grounded in the lived realities of communities across Highland Asia, the group serves as both a research hub and an intellectual companion to PluriMed, the Highland Institute’s open access journal published through Highlander Press.
PluriMed operates at the convergence of medical anthropology, global health, environmental humanities, and speculative biomedicine. The group’s work is shaped by a commitment to epistemic plurality and postcolonial critique, engaging scholars, practitioners, and independent researchers who seek to rethink prevailing assumptions about disease, diagnosis, healing, and evidence. Of particular interest are under-explored relationships between environmental change and emergent pathologies, traditional knowledge systems and experimental therapeutics, and the ethical implications of knowledge production in contexts marked by structural inequality and limited biomedical infrastructure.
Current research areas include:
PluriMed operates at the convergence of medical anthropology, global health, environmental humanities, and speculative biomedicine. The group’s work is shaped by a commitment to epistemic plurality and postcolonial critique, engaging scholars, practitioners, and independent researchers who seek to rethink prevailing assumptions about disease, diagnosis, healing, and evidence. Of particular interest are under-explored relationships between environmental change and emergent pathologies, traditional knowledge systems and experimental therapeutics, and the ethical implications of knowledge production in contexts marked by structural inequality and limited biomedical infrastructure.
Current research areas include:
- Fungal disease burden and neglected infections in Northeast India and the Himalayan borderlands
- Indigenous and local healing systems in relation to biomedical and public health frameworks
- Speculative models of pathogenesis, including links between mycoses, immunocompromise, and cancer
- Ethnographic approaches to therapeutic decision-making and medical uncertainty
- Cross-border health systems and plural medical landscapes in mountain and forested ecologies.
The PluriMed Research Group collaborates closely with institutional and community partners across South and Southeast Asia, the UK, the United States, and Norway. The group convenes regular workshops, colloquia, and joint writing projects, including the curation of thematic issues of PluriMed journal. Members of the group are committed to fostering a research culture that values theoretical insight, field-based knowledge, and ethical modes of scholarly engagement. For inquiries, collaborations, or to propose contributions to PluriMed, please contact us at plurimed@highlandinstitute.org