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Reviewed by:
  • Asian Medicine and Globalization
  • Arielle A. Rittersmith
Joseph S. Alter, ed. Asian Medicine and Globalization. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. 187 pp. $45.

While the general topic of Asian Medicine and Globalization is clearly indicated in its title, the authors are also united by a theme carefully outlined in the introduction by editor Joseph Alter. This common thread concerns the paradoxical relationship between nationalism and transnationalism, wherein the identification of insulated medical practices with a bounded nation-state at times conflicts with, and other times is reinforced by, historical and contemporary linkages that extend beyond the state. The chapters demonstrate that although medicine is often constructed as subscribing to natural principles, such representations are directed by culture and cultural politics. Although health-related relationships permeate areas of life outside the logic of healing—for instance, in aspects of spirituality, war, and sports—this socio-political context restricts the definition of "Asian medicine" to purely medical and, by extension, scientific terms. By exploring these socio-political dynamics, Alter asserts, the authors challenge the hegemony of this category as a framework for understanding the history and cultural construction of medicine.

In exploring these themes, the authors analyze the transformation of medical theory, technique, and concepts in terms of their movement away from the context of their production or in response to imported transnational phenomena. Alter's chapter on the contested origins of Ayurvedic acupuncture sets the stage by demonstrating how such flows are rarely as unidirectional as nationalist discourse might suggest. By tracing connections between China and India, he demonstrates how cultural politics direct not only the practice of medicine, but also the way in which it is theorized. Lo and Schroer also take up the question of continuity and change in their discussion of the transformation of the Chinese medical concept, xie, over space (from China to Europe) and time. Situating metaphorical representations of the body and health within broader conceptions of the environment, politics, and society, they demonstrate how medical theory reflects the perceived social and moral conditions of the time.

Habib and Raina evaluate the promotion of Ayurvedic and Unani medicine in light of nationalist efforts to rejuvenate late colonial India. They suggest that although Indian science is often presented as resistant to foreign influences, this "turning inward" resulted from endeavors to recover scientifically worthy elements of an "indigenous" medicine [End Page 227] perceived to be in decline. Kumar also examines the dynamics of colonial medicine, comparing British India and Dutch Indonesia and maintaining that although Western medicine played an important role in colonialism, the heterogeneity in practitioner motives and experiences cannot be reduced to a discourse of power. Van Hollen shows that although Indian nationalist discourse criticizes hegemonic and materialist biomedicine, it also makes claims to the legitimacy of "traditional" medicine based on its transnational status. Thus, nationalist discourse begins to break down as "traditional" medicine is increasingly measured by material success and its ability to penetrate the materialist global market.

Chen describes how the "mandate of science" came to define the nation-state, as it regulated a specific form of qigong in socialist China. She observes that although Chinese scientists and doctors encourage the transnational transmission of "medical qigong," charismatic masters continue to practice heterodox forms in less-populated provinces and overseas communities. Selby analyzes the manner in which the Euro-American "wellness industry" has transformed notions of women's health in repackaging and commodifying Āyurveda, developing body images that emphasize appearance over health, which ultimately enables them to sell abstract concepts such as purity, wellness, and enlightenment. Also elaborating on the cultural politics of medicine and beauty, Brownell describes the impact of geopolitics on Chinese body perceptions and practices revealed in the adoption of cosmetic surgery. She uses the case of double-eyelid surgery to illustrate how a transnational practice can be transformed by and imbued with local meaning, resulting in the creation of medical techniques and the popular desires that perpetuate them.

Although not the first to challenge reified categories such as "traditional medicine" or "Indian medicine," the chapters convincingly argue against the association of discrete medical practices with bounded political units, as such categories rely upon a sense of medical insularity...

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