Department of Anthropology, Washington University, Saint Louis, Missouri 63130-4899, USA.
Med Anthropol. 2010 Oct;29(4):384-402. doi: 10.1080/01459740.2010.501317.
Thousands of patients with incurable neurodegenerative conditions from more than 60 countries have sought fetal cell transplants in China since 2001. Drawing on 24 months of ethnographic fieldwork, I investigate these transnational encounters occurring in the realm of experimental medicine. Critiquing popular notions of "medical tourism," I develop the alternative concept of "biotech pilgrimage" to reveal how faith intertwines with technology, travel, and the political economies of health care and medical research in a global era. Insights from pilgrimage theory enable us to question assumptions of leisure embedded in claims of tourism while also exploring new biopolitical practices that extend beyond the borders of the nation-state. I also demonstrate how materialist visions of salvation underlie medical practice and contribute to China's rising influence as a global technological leader.
自 2001 年以来，来自 60 多个国家的数千名患有不治之症的神经退行性疾病患者在中国寻求胎儿细胞移植。本研究通过为期 24 个月的民族志实地调查，考察了在实验医学领域发生的这些跨国相遇。本文批判了“医疗旅游”的流行观念，提出了“生物技术朝圣”的替代概念，揭示了在全球化时代，信仰如何与技术、旅行以及医疗保健和医学研究的政治经济交织在一起。朝圣理论的观点使我们能够质疑旅游主张中所隐含的休闲假设，同时也探索了超越民族国家边界的新的生物政治实践。本文还表明，救赎的唯物主义愿景是医学实践的基础，并为中国作为全球技术领导者的崛起做出了贡献。
