title: Surviving the Distance: The Transnational Utilization of Traditional Medicine Among Oaxacan Migrants in the US.
abstract: Transnational health practices are an emergent and understudied phenomenon, which provide insight into how migrants seek care and tend to their health care needs in receiving communities. We conducted in depth interviews with return migrants (N = 21) and traditional healers (N = 11) to explore transnational health practices among Mixtec migrants from Oaxaca, specifically in relation to their utilization of traditional healers, medicinal plants, and folk remedies. In established migrant destination points, folk remedies and plants are readily available, and furthermore, these resources often travel alongside migrants. Traditional healers are integral to transnational networks, whether they migrate and provide services in the destination point, or are providing services from communities of origin. Findings encourage us to rethink migrants' communities of origin typically thought of as "left behind," and instead reposition them as inherently connected by transnational channels. Implications for transnational health care theory and practice are addressed.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Systems Research of the National Institute of Public Health, Av. Universidad 655, Col. Santa María Ahuacatitlán, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
authors.forename: Tonatiuh
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: González-Vázquez
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Systems Research of the National Institute of Public Health, Av. Universidad 655, Col. Santa María Ahuacatitlán, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. blanca.pelcastre@insp.mx.
authors.forename: Blanca Estela
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Pelcastre-Villafuerte
authors.affiliation: Art and Global Health Center of the University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taboada
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008519:Medicine, Traditional / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology*; D008800:Mexico / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D011177:Postal Service; D036301:Qualitative Research; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Mexico; Migrants; Oaxaca; Traditional medicine; Transnational