Medicine across cultures : history and practice of medicine in non-Western cultures PDF
Preview Medicine across cultures : history and practice of medicine in non-Western cultures
MEDICINE ACROSS CULTURES SCIENCE ACROSS CULTURES: THE HISTORY OF NON-WESTERN SCIENCE VOLUME 3 MEDICINE ACROSS CULTURES Editor HELAINE SELIN, Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts USA MEDICINE ACROSS CULTURES History and Practice of Medicine in Non-Western Cultures Editor HELAINE SELIN Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA Advisory Editor HUGH SHAPIRO University ofNevada, Reno, USA KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS NEW YORK,BOSTON, DORDRECHT, LONDON, MOSCOW eBookISBN: 0-306-48094-8 Print ISBN: 1-4020-1166-0 ©2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers NewYork, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow Print ©2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers Dordrecht All rights reserved No part of this eBook maybe reproducedor transmitted inanyform or byanymeans,electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without written consent from the Publisher Created in the United States of America Visit Kluwer Online at: http://kluweronline.com and Kluwer's eBookstore at: http://ebooks.kluweronline.com INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES SCIENCE ACROSS CULTURES: THE HISTORY OF NON-WESTERN SCIENCE In 1997, Kluwer Academic Publishers published the Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. The encyclopedia, a collection of almost 600 articles by almost 300 contributors, covered a range of topics from Aztec science and Chinese medicine to Tibetan astronomy and Indian ethnobotany. For some cultures, specific individuals could be identified, and their biographies were included. Since the study of non-Western science is not just a study of facts, but a study of culture and philosophy, we included essays on subjects such as Colonialism and Science, Magic and Science, The Transmission of Knowledge from East to West, Technology and Culture, Science as a Western Phenomenon, Values and Science, and Rationality, Objectivity, and Method. Because the encyclopedia was received with critical acclaim, and because the nature of an encyclopedia is such that articles must be concise and compact, the editors at Kluwer and I felt that there was a need to expand on its success. We thought that the breadth of the encyclopedia could be complemented by a series of books that explored the topics in greater depth. We had an opportunity, without such space limitations, to include more illustrations and much longer bibliographies. We shifted the focus from the general educated audience that the encyclopedia targeted to a more scholarly one, although we have been careful to keep the articles readable and keep jargon to a minimum. Before we can talk about the field of non-Western science, we have to define both non-Western and science. The term non-Western is not a geographical designation; it is a cultural one. We use it to describe people outside of the Euro-American sphere, including the native cultures of the Americas. The power of European and American colonialism is evident in the fact that the majority of the world’s population is defined by what they are not. And in fact, for most of our recorded history the flow of knowledge, art, and power went the other way. In this series, we hope to rectify the lack of scholarly attention paid to most of the world’s science. As for defining science, if we wish to study science in non-Western cultures, we need to take several intellectual steps. First, we must accept that every culture has a science, that is, a way of defining, controlling, and predicting events in the natural world. Then we must accept that every science is legitimate in terms of the culture from which it grew. The transformation of the word science as a distinct rationality valued above magic is uniquely European. It v vi INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES is not common to most non-Western societies, where magic and science and religion can easily co-exist. The empirical, scientific realm of understanding and inquiry is not readily separable from a more abstract, religious realm. Medicine Across Cultures is the third book in the series. It includes about 20 chapters. Most deal with medical systems as they are perceived and practiced by different cultures: Australian Aboriginal people, Native Americans, Samoans, Indians, etc. The book also contains a variety of essays on related subjects, such as Religion and Medicine or Chinese and Western Medicine. We hope the series will be used to provide both factual information about the practices and practitioners of the sciences as well as insights into the worldviews and philosophies of the cultures that produced them. We hope that readers will achieve a new respect for the accomplishments of ancient civiliza- tions and a deeper understanding of the relationship between science and culture. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction to the Series v Table of Contents vii Acknowledgments ix About the Contributors xi Introduction xix Continuity, Change, and Challenge in African Medicine 1 John M. Janzen and Edward C. Green Medicine in Ancient Egypt 27 Ahmed Shafik and Waseem R. Elseesy Medicine in Ancient China 49 Cai Jingfeng and Zhen Yan 75 Ananda S. Chopra Cultural Perspectives on Traditional Tibetan Medicine 85 Robert William Prasaad Steiner Traditional Thai Medicine 115 Viggo Brun Oriental Medicine in Korea 133 Don Baker Globalization and Cultures of Biomedicine: Japan and North America 155 Margaret Lock Traditional Aboriginal Health Practice in Australia 175 Dayalan Devanesen and Patrick Maher When Healing Cultures Collide: A Case from the Pacific 191 Cluny Macpherson and La’avasa Macpherson Native American Medicine: Herbal Pharmacology, Therapies, and 209 Elder Care Lewis Mehl-Madrona vii viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Lords of the Medicine Bag: Medical Science and Traditional Practice 225 in Ancient Peru and South America Ruben G. Mendoza Medicine in Ancient Mesoamerica 259 Carlos Viesca Healing Relationships in the African Caribbean 285 Karen McCarthy Brown Medicine in Ancient Hebrew and Jewish Cultures 305 Samuel Kottek Islamic Medicines: Perspectives on the Greek Legacy in the History of 325 Islamic Medical Traditions in West Asia Guy Attewell Chinese and Western Medicine 351 Hugh Shapiro Religion and Medicine 373 Jim B. Tucker The Relation Between Medical States and Soul Beliefs among Tribal 385 Peoples Åke Hultkrantz Index 397 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the contributors to this volume; these are the easiest, most reliable people I’ve ever worked with. I am so impressed with how committed they are to their subjects, while at the same time keeping their academic distance. It was a pleasure to read and work with their writing; no one was angry at me for changing their words. Thanks to Hugh Shapiro, the Advisory Editor, who read and commented on all the articles in addition to writing his own piece. Thanks to Dedie King, my acupuncturist, who makes it possible for me to maintain my equanimity and hard work at the same time. And thanks, always and again, to my loving family, Bob and Lisa and Lisa and Tim, my sources of balance, harmony, and wellbeing. ix
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