Drawing on case studies from his field-work in the PRC, he examines the traditional medicine in China from a variety of perspectives; as it is regulated and mandated by the People's government; as it is shaped and affected by consumption, utilization, and reproduction; as it is integrated and synthesized at the level of clinical practice; as it defines and is defined by physicians new to its practice; as it is being defined in comptemporary practice by the emergence of methods of pattern differentiation and treatment determination; and as its plurality can be detected by examining the case of one young acupuncturist treating CVA.
As a traditional healing art that has established a contemporary global presence, Chinese medicine defies categories and raises many interesting questions. If Chinese medicine is "traditional," why has it not disappeared with the rest of traditional Chinese society? If, as some claim, it is a science, what does that imply about what we call science? What is the secret to Chinese medicine‘s remarkable adaptability that has allowed it to prosper for more than 2000 years? In Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China Volker G. Scheid presents an ethnography of Chinese medicine that seeks to answer these questions, but an ethnography informed by some atypical approaches
Scheid, a medical anthropologist and practitioner of Chinese medicine in practice since 1983, has produced an ethnography which accepts plurality as an intrinsic and non-reducible aspect of medical practice. It has been widely noted that a patient visiting ten different practitioners of Chinese medicine may receive ten different prescriptions for the same complaint, and yet many of these various treatments may be effective. In attempting to illuminate the plurality inherent in Chinese medical practice, Scheid redefines-and in some cases abandons-traditional anthropological concepts such as tradition, culture, and practice, in favour of approaches from disciplines such as science and technology studies, social psychology, and Chinese philosophy. As a result his book sheds light not only on Chinese medicine but also on the western academic traditions used to examine it and in this manner presents us with new perspectives from which to deliberate the future of Chinese medicine in a global context
Chinese Medicine in Contemporary China is the product of two decades of research including numerous interviews and case studies. It will appeal to a western academic audience as well as practitioners of Chinese medicine and other interested medical professionals, including those from western biomedicine.
“Volker Scheid's book is a seriously original work. One of its great strengths is Scheid's refusal to see Chinese medicine as either unitary or centered. He insists on its plurality, with incursions of Western biomedicine as just more elements within an already multiple field of medical practices. The other great strength is Scheid's refusal to see medicine as static. He brings to the fore the creative interplay between Chinese and Western traditions, the dynamism that can emerge in the intersection of radically disparate techniques, remedies and conceptual schemes. Along the way, Scheid develops a fascinating epistemology and ontology of agency, human and nonhuman, that makes sense of the plurality and syntheses that he confronts us with. This is a path-breaking book—one that could be a model for future work in the history of medicine and in cultural studies at large.”—Andrew Pickering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
“Volker Scheid reveals the dynamic context of Chinese medicine and its continuous process of encounter, interpretation, negotiation, and synthesis. This study's depth of detail and breathtaking interdisciplinary scope provides a multidimensional understanding of Chinese medicine and the forces that nourish, constrain, and transform it. Any serious scholar or practitioner will want to read and re-read this groundbreaking volume.”—Ted J. Kaptchuk, author of The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine
Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
Timeline on Chinese History
Geographical Map of China
Introduction
Part I: Chinese Medicine and the Problem of Plurality
1. Orientations
2. Plurality and Synthesis: Toward a Multisited Ethnography of Chinese Medicine
Part II: Contemporary Chinese Medicine: Six Perspectives
3. Hegemonic Pluralism: Chinese Medicine in a Socialist State
4. Dilemmas and Tactical Agency: Patients and the Transformation of Chinese Medicine
5. Shaping Chinese Medicine: Integration, Innovation, Synthesis
6. Students, Disciples, and the Art of Social Networking: Becoming a Physician of Chinese Medicine
7. Bianzheng lunzhi: The Emergent Pivot of Contemporary Chinese Medicine
8. Creating Knowledge: The Origins of Plurality
Part III: Anthropological Interventions
9. The Future of Chinese Medicine
Appendix. Four Attempts at Systematizing Pattern Differentiation and Treatment Determination
Notes
Bibliography of Premodern Chinese Medical Texts
Bibliography of Modern Chinese and Western Sources
Index
