Constructing the East-West Boundary

The Contested Place of a Modern Imaging Technology in South Korea’s Dual Medical System

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5337478
AutoresEunjeong Ma (0000-0001-6320-9360, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Korea), Michael Patrick Lynch (0000-0001-9535-6461, Cornell University, autor de correspondencia), Michael Lynch (0000-0002-8635-6547, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA)
Año2014
Volumen39
Número5
Páginas639-665
Fecha de publicación2014-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaScience Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0162243914526460
OpenAlexW1983658907
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas9
Referencias citadas31

This article presents a case study of a recent controversy over the use of computed tomography (CT) as a diagnostic technology in South Korean hospitals. The controversy occurred in the wake of a series of conflicts in the late twentieth century over the legitimate placement of healing practices, medicinal substances, and medical technologies within Korea's separate "Western Medicine" (WM) and "Korean Medicine" (KM) systems of health care and pharmaceutical distribution. The controversy concerned an attempt to use hi-tech imaging technology-the epitome of modern medicine-in a clinic that maintains a strong ideological attachment to Korean healing traditions. A close study of this dispute, based on interviews, participant observation, and documentary analysis, showed that discursive positions taken about the translatability of medical technologies changed with the context of dispute, and did not reflect a stable epistemic boundary between rival medical paradigms

Archaeology · Art · Epitome · Health care · Ideology · Literature · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · History · History of Medical Practice · Law · Medical History and Innovations · Medicine