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Summary:

Scope and content: "Medicine on the Margins explores the ways in which Tibetan medical doctors have preserved and revitalized aspects of Tibetan medicine over the past fifty years. During decades of forced sociopolitical and economic upheaval in Tsang Province of China's Tibetan Autonomous Region--with medical texts destroyed or hidden, teachers and lamas imprisoned or otherwise silenced, and almost all trade in medicinal ingredients halted--they had little hope that their 'science of healing' (Sowa Rigpa) would again flourish. Today, however, Tibetan medicine is in vogue, promoted by the Chinese Communist Party as a pillar industry of Tibet and a valuable asset of Tibetans' 'nationality minority culture.' For urban Tibetans, traditional medicine is one of the few areas where a relatively liberal expression of Tibetan identity and language is possible. In urban, medically pluralistic settings it is an easily available resource, while in remote areas, its practice and transmission to the younger generation faces many challenges. The passing away of the last practitioner of a certain pulse-reading or compounding of an herbal formula, for example, could mean the end of a long chain of transmission. For reasons of lack of access, continued repression of nonofficial histories, fear, and loss of living memory, Tibetan medical doctors--the so-called amchi--have been little studied. This volume presents their story, showing how practitioners from Tsang have retained crucial links in the teaching of medical knowledge despite the near-annihilation of monastic Buddhism and 'medical houses'"--Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents:

• The Tibetan medical house
• Medicine and religion in the politics and public health of the Tibetan state
• Narrative, time, and reform
• The medico-cultural revolution
• Reviving Tibetan medicine, integrating biomedicine
• Looking at illness
• Glossary.

Author/Creator:

Hofer, Theresia , author

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Main Work:

Medicine and memory in Tibet: amchi physicians in an age of reform [by Hofer, T.]

Other Related Resources:

Print version: Medicine and memory in Tibet [by Hofer, T.] (Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2018] — ISBN 9780295742984; LCCN 2017028012; OCLC Number 990257562)

Related Series:

Studies on ethnic groups in China

Subjects:

Medicine, Tibetan — History — 20th century

Medicine, Tibetan — History — 21st century

Physicians — China — Tibet Autonomous Region — History

Memory — Social aspects — China — Tibet Autonomous Region — History

Social networks — China — Tibet Autonomous Region — History

Ethnicity — China — Tibet Autonomous Region — History

Social change — China — Tibet Autonomous Region — History

Tibet Autonomous Region (China) — Social conditions

Tibet Autonomous Region (China) — Relations — China

China — Relations — China — Tibet Autonomous Region

1900-2099

Physicians

Memory — Social aspects

Memory

Social networks

Ethnicity

Social change

Social conditions

Relations

Medicine, Tibetan

China

China — Tibet Autonomous Region

Genres:

History

General Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description based on: Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on September 14, 2018).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 286 pages).

Digital Characteristics:

text file

Call Numbers:

R603.T5 H644 2018eb

ISBNs:

9780295743004 (electronic book)
029574300X (electronic book)
9780295742984 (hardcover, alkaline paper) [Invalid]
0295742984 (hardcover, alkaline paper) [Invalid]
9780295742991 (paperback, alkaline paper) [Invalid]
0295742992 (paperback, alkaline paper) [Invalid]

Library of Congress Control Numbers:

2017029406

OCLC Numbers:

990778187