Duch’s Mediated Beings: The Human Condition and Symbolic Anthropology

Abstract

Rooted in symbolic anthropology, Lluís Duch’s anthropological framework explores humanity’s mediated relationship with culture and reality. This text reflects on Duch’s intellectual legacy, emphasizing his key concepts, including mediation, ambiguity, and hosting structures, to illuminate human experiences, such as illness. Drawing from personal accounts and interdisciplinary critiques, the text addresses Duch’s contributions and their application in health anthropology, highlighting areas like symbolism and relationality. The text also offers recommendations for dialogue with global anthropologies, ethnographic methods, and the extension of Duch’s ideas to gender and non-human symbolic realms.