Tattooing practices for snakebite in the northeast of Thailand: Folk healing and knowledge transformation in the world of contemporary biomedicine

Abstract

Tattooing for snakebites was studied in two Thai-Lao ethnic villages of northeastern Thailand, to investigate knowledge transformation and integration of folk medicine into mainstream biomedicine. In one village, the tattooing practice is undergoing an attempt to transform and survive alongside, but not in, the world of biomedicine. In the other village, it has been partially integrated into mainstream medicine, with the healer having some formal recognition through the system of authorising traditional healers.

The first village is located on the upper part of the northeast region, believed to be Buddhism centre and was close to the past communist centre. It is a rural village relying on rice cultivation to serve family needs. Multiple intersecting influences - modern education, the development of health services, a significant decrease in the incidence of snake encounters due to modern agricultural technology - have impacted upon changes in the way that snakebite tattooing is practised. I argue in this thesis that, after the death of the only traditional folk healer, snakebite healing has become widely distributed as a primarily herbal treatment undertaken by villagers. The practice is diffused, and the range of herbs used varies. Healing can be undertaken by any gender and any age. The distribution of healing knowledges reflects some limited "holding of knowledge", gathered through observation, by the folk healer's widow and friends. Its purpose has also been transformed into a treatment for prevention and non-lethal animal-bites, using modifications of the old-style practice.

The second village is located on lower part of the northeast region: a semi-urban village near the centre of lower northeast where sugarcane cultivation is spreading as a popular cash crop. In this village lives a famous snakebite healer, held in great respect by local health people. A recognised and respected folk healer, he still follows public health rules and uses new needle every time doing his practice. Despite the presence of a comprehensive health service, snakebite victims still prefer to seek his tattooing treatment rather than go to hospital, often relating their dissatisfaction with the standard medical protocol for snakebite treatment, and neighbours' past experiences of success from tattooing treatment. Paradoxically, the "authorisation" of the healer's traditional treatment by mainstream medicine has resulted in him being able to practise a parallel therapeutic program. The dissemination of knowledge by this thesis is vertically to acolytes who come to learn from him and return to their communities with his knowledge.

In this thesis, I reveal the persistence of traditional snakebite treatments involving herbs and tattoos in two diverse ethnographic case-studies, in one of which knowledge is disseminated and transformed horizontally through the agency of the healer's widow and friends, and in the other vertically through the mentorship of a folk healer. In both examples, the treatment continues to be trusted. Thailand's system for authorising folk healers is resisted, and exploited, in one case, and irrelevant in another case. This thesis attests to the resilience of traditional practices and argues against the ability of the state to regulate them.