Historical and Global Perspectives
Vernacular medicine and modes of knowing in China
Medicine is the only sphere of pre-modern Chinese natural knowledge that has remained a distinct discipline and withstood the introduction of modern scientific methods since the 16th century and scientific biomedicine since the late 19th century. Its ongoing global significance is indisputable: in 2015 a treatment based on a common herb that has been prescribed for over 2000 years won China a Nobel Prize, and “Traditional Chinese Medicine” (TCM) is currently one of the most widely consumed Chinese exports.
The overall goal of this partnership project is to illuminate the social, cultural, and epistemic dimensions of this remarkable historical phenomena. Led by Project Director Joan Judge, we will accomplish this goal by undertaking the first systematic investigation of Chinese vernacular medicine – the largest but least studied and most poorly understood realm of Chinese medicine.
Distinct from, while overlapping with, the more delimited arenas of learned or scientific medicine on the one hand, and popular or folk medicine on the other, vernacular medicine is defined here as accessible, practice-based but theoretically informed therapeutics.
Contact us
If you would like to get in touch about our project, please contact us at:
info [at] vcmed.org
