Remodeling the Arsenal of Chinese Medicine

Shared Pasts, Alternative Futures

Bibliographic Data

ID9765443
AuthorsVolker Scheid (0000-0002-9410-8412, SOAS University of London, corresponding author)
Year2002
Volume583
Issue1
Pages136-159
Publication date2002-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/000271620258300109
OpenAlexW2139362326
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited52

The discourse on alternative medicine assumes that medical practices exist as distinctive medical systems that compete with each other in plural health care systems. Anthropological and historical research clearly demonstrates, however, that this is not so. Many so-called traditional medicines are revealed as inventions of distinctly modern regimes of knowledge and institutional practice, while the political needs of healers and the epistemological desires of researchers converge in the construction of distinctive medical practices for description, classification, and comparison. This article draws on genealogy as a possible way out of this impasse. It shows how different generations of physicians of Chinese medicine employed the same four core concepts to reflect on their practice, imbuing them with ever new meanings to relate them to the changing demands of clinical and political practice. Examining these core concepts reveals something about the essence of Chinese medicine without reducing our analysis to a misguided search for cultural essences

Business · Core (optical fiber · Economics · Epistemology · Financial economics · Futures contract · Health care · Linguistics · Plural · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Chinese history and philosophy · Computer Science · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History of Science and Medicine · Law · Philosophy

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