From Talent to Expertise: Cultivating Medical Sensibilities Among War-Khasis in the Bangladesh–Northeast India Borderlands

Abstract

In War–Khasi villages situated at the border between Bangladesh and Northeast India, the local doctors are called nong sumar, or “the one who does the care.” Nong sumar is an inherited profession. Older male relatives who practice medicine pass on their medical knowledge to their younger relatives who demonstrate talent. Talent is a key requirement in transferring the art of healing. Older nong sumars closely observe their kin from childhood for this aptitude. Medical knowledge involving plant-based medicines and different physiotherapeutic techniques is passed on to members of the younger generation who show interest, responsibility, and empathy. However, such a predisposition does not guarantee that novice practitioners will become skilled doctors. To excel as a healer, a nong sumar must cultivate their talent through lifelong learning, which involves experimenting with various plant-based remedies and continuously honing their tactile and auditory senses deemed necessary for successful healing. This study focuses on the lifelong cultivation of medical talent through the accounts of three doctors living in a Bangladeshi War–Khasi village near the Tripura border. It investigates what medical talent means in this context and seeks to understand the type of knowledge that the three nong sumar mobilize during healing. The study argues that healing is not reducible to an encounter between the healer and the patient because such an encounter is merely one aspect of many in a healer’s vocation. During healing, a healer interacts not only with humans but also with non-humans, such as plants. To maintain these relationships, the healer activates and continuously hones various senses. Analyzing these processes provides insights into the constitution of medical knowledge through multiple senses and species.