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Interlocutors described placentophagy as a practice of care, oriented towards physical and emotional recovery and grounded in self-trust, bodily autonomy and a sense of connection with nature. Their accounts resonate with ecological thinking and a monistic worldview that positions humans and nature as interconnected, while also reflecting ambivalent or strained relations with specialised biomedical authority. The study illustrates how the placenta acquires multiple and shifting identities\u2014as waste, therapeutic tool and symbol of entanglement or ritual object. Foregrounding these perspectives highlights placentophagy as more than a marginal or curious practice: it offers insight into negotiations of health, agency and trust in contemporary obstetric care. By attending to women\u2019s lived experience, the study contributes to debates about how biomedical and experiential frameworks might be placed in dialogue rather than opposition.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/medhum-2025-013718","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,17]],"date-time":"2026-03-17T17:20:21Z","timestamp":1773768021000},"page":"medhum-2025-013718","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Placentophagy: self-trust and embodied entanglements in Czech society"],"prefix":"10.1136","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5967-6457","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jana","family":"Karlov\u00e1","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Studies in Culture and Religion, Faculty of Education, University of Hradec Kr\u00e1lov\u00e9, Hradec Kr\u00e1lov\u00e9, Czech Republic"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-5571-2817","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michaela","family":"Jaterkov\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Studies in Culture and Religion, Faculty of Education, University of Hradec Kr\u00e1lov\u00e9, Hradec Kr\u00e1lov\u00e9, Czech Republic"},{"name":"Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026031710201606000_medhum-2025-013718v1.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"113","DOI":"10.1080\/07399332.2013.798325","article-title":"Attitudes toward placentophagy: a brief report","volume":"35","author":"Cremers","year":"2014","journal-title":"Health Care Women Int"},{"key":"2026031710201606000_medhum-2025-013718v1.2","unstructured":"Schutt B . 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