ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on informal medical services provided by Central Asian migrants living in the Russian Federation. It addresses the development of the healing practices industry (such as writing amulets, divination and cupping therapy) in Moscow, and seeks to assess how the mobility of migrants from Central Asia contributes to the transfer of healing practices to Russia. This research also examines the ways in which migrants create informal and formal spaces for expanding spiritual healing, and how these practices function on the local alternative medicine market. Finally, this chapter presents the methods and means of performing informal spiritual practices in Russia, and how such practices are transformed and adjusted to the local conditions.
