Needham Research Institute Series
Tibetan
Medicine in the Contemporary World
Global
Politics of Medical Knowledge
and Practice
Edited
by Laurent Pordié
Price:
£90.00
ISBN:
978-0-415-44789-8
Published
by: Routledge
Publication
Date: 22nd January 2008
Pages:
288
About
the Book
The
popularity of Tibetan medicine
plays a central role in the international market for alternative
medicine and
has been increasing and extending far beyond its original cultural area
becoming a global phenomenon. This book analyses Tibetan medicine in
the 21st
century by considering the contemporary reasons that have led to its
diversity
and by bringing out the common orientations of this medical system.
Using case
studies that examine of the social, political and identity dynamics of
Tibetan
medicine in Nepal, India, the PRC, Mongolia, the UK and the US, the
contributors to this book answer the following three, fundamental
questions:
What
are the modalities and issues
involved in the social and therapeutic transformations of Tibetan
medicine?
How
are national policies and health
reforms connected to the processes of contemporary redefinition of this
medicine?
How
does Tibetan medicine fit into the
present, globalized context of the medical world?
Written
by experts in the field from
the US, France, Canada, China and the UK this book will be invaluable
to
students and scholars interested in contemporary medicine, Tibetan
studies,
health studies and the anthropology of Asia.
Table
of Contents
Preface
Margaret Lock Introduction
1. Tibetan Medicine Today. Neo-Traditionalism as an Analytical Lens and
a
Political Tool Laurent Pordié Part 1: Modern
Institutionalization 2.
Inventing Tradition: Tibetan Medicine in the Post-Socialist Contexts of
China
and Mongolia Craig R. Janes and Casey Hilliard 3. Place and
Professionalization: Navigating Amchi Identity in Nepal Sienna R.
Craig
4. The Diffusion of Tibetan Medicine in China: A Descriptive Panorama Chen
Hua Part 2: Today’s Politics of Knowledge 5. Integration or
Erasure?:
Modernizing Medicine at Lhasa’s Mentsikhang Vincanne Adams and
Fei-Fei Li
6. Hijacking Intellectual Property Rights. Identities and Social Power
in the
Indian Himalayas Laurent Pordié 7. Tibetan Medicine and
Biodiversity
Management in Dolpo, Nepal. Negotiating Local and Global Worldviews,
Knowledge
and Practices Yildiz Aumeeruddy-Thomas and Yeshi C. Lama Part
3: Tibetan
Medicine and the West 8. The Integration of Tibetan Medicine in the
United
Kingdom: The Clinics of the Tara Institute of Medicine Colin Millard
9.
Tibetan Medicine Revisited in the West. Notes on the Integrative
Efforts and
Transformative Consequences Occurring in Massachusetts, USA Ivette
Vargas
10. An Ancient Medicine in a New World: A Tibetan Medicine Doctor’s
Reflection
from ‘Inside’ Eliot Tokar Conclusion 11. The Politics of
Tibetan
Medicine and the Constitution of an Object of Study: Some Comments Geoffrey
Samuel
About
the Author(s)
Laurent
Pordié is Director of the
Department of Social Sciences at the French Institute of Pondicherry,
India and
a Fellow at the Centre de Recherche ‘Cultures, Santé, Sociétés’
(CReCSS), Paul
Cézanne University at Aix-Marseille.
* Winner of the 2009 ICAS (International Convention of Asia Scholars) Colleagues Choice Award.