Medicine Across Cultures

441 Pages·2003·13.25 MB·English

by  Helaine Selin

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
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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
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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
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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.
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