- For research interests and complete bibliography, see: https://www.isca.ox.ac.uk/people/professor-elisabeth-hsu For... moreFor research interests and complete bibliography, see:
https://www.isca.ox.ac.uk/people/professor-elisabeth-hsu
For research with colleagues within ArgO-EMR, see:
https://www.isca.ox.ac.uk/argo-emr
For research projects in social/medical anthropology more generally, see:
https://www.isca.ox.ac.uk/epistemologies-of-healing
For the Oxford medical anthropology masters courses, see:
http://www.anthro.ox.ac.uk/medical-anthropology
For textual research projects (last update was in 2010), see:
http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/people/elisabeth-hsuedit
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‘Europe’ has been a point of reference for medical anthropologists previously (e.g. Lock 1986; DelVecchio Good et al. 1990; Pfleiderer and Bibeau 1991), and also in more recent years (e.g. Saillant and Genest 2007 [2005]). In this issue,... more
‘Europe’ has been a point of reference for medical anthropologists previously (e.g. Lock 1986; DelVecchio Good et al. 1990; Pfleiderer and Bibeau 1991), and also in more recent years (e.g. Saillant and Genest 2007 [2005]). In this issue, ‘Europe’ refers to teaching and research at European Universities, and their intellectual outreach. To be sure, a ‘European’ as opposed to a ‘North American’ or ‘Japanese’ medical anthropology does not exist. Nor are there distinctive national styles of doing medical anthropology; diversity prevails even within a single language community. Rather, medical anthropology has emerged as an academic field on an international playing ground, and trans-Atlantic exchanges have always drawn on a serious engagement with research in Asia, Africa, Mesoand South America. Considering that medical anthropology is now taught in a rapidly growing number of graduate and undergraduate courses in Europe (Hsu and Montag 2005), while recently compiled anthologies honour almost exclusively authors working in North America (e.g. Good, Fischer, and Willen 2010), this publication may provide a cautious ‘corrective’ (naturally with no claim to representativeness of all medical anthropology in Europe). When one works within such a dynamic field that is also very polymorph, questions arise about how it all began. Reflections on origins are always linked to issues of self-definition and future developments. This special issue of Anthropology & Medicine attends to questions about the past and future in two parts. In the first part, six pioneers in the field (all currently in retirement) speak about their experiences when they started research and teaching, some 40 to 50 years ago: Tullio Seppilli, Gilbert Lewis, Jean Benoist, Sjaak van der Geest, Armin Prinz, and Verena Kücholl/Münzenmeier. Their essays capture pieces of oral histories of the times when there was not yet a field as such. The second part of the special issue attends to current issues, and its introductory paper – asking quo vadis? – aims to identify core themes that have defined the field from the early days to the present. It identifies ‘the practice of care’ as one of the most well-researched themes by medical anthropologists in Europe, and explains this in light of the well-known tension in medicine between competence and care. Accordingly, studies into medical care, which often contained an implicit critique of medicalisation, countervailed earlier studies into ‘the problem of knowledge’ – a
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Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) involves both biomedical and traditional medical training, which makes well-trained TCM doctors inexpensive health care providers for primary health care. The Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Ministry of... more
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) involves both biomedical and traditional medical training, which makes well-trained TCM doctors inexpensive health care providers for primary health care. The Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Ministry of Commerce recognised this potential, and in the mid-1990s issued short-term licences for private TCM enterprises. In Dar es Salaam, some of these practices experienced a period of considerable growth, but by the year 2000 a degree of ambivalence if not resentment existed against Chinese medical doctors who were accused of unlawfully using biomedical medication, and the government refused to issue further licences. In addition, some 'doctors' had insufficient training or minimal clinical experience (though I also met some notable exceptions). This article asks why Tanzanian patients turn to the Chinese for medical treatment, and what patients know about Chinese medicine and medication. One of the chief findings is that the Swahili term dawa ya Kichina is vague, which allows patients to transfer their positive experiences with Chinese biomedical doctors during the period of socialist orientation onto the current, entrepreneurial TCM doctors. Dawa ya Kichina is often considered a rapidly effective 'advanced' 'traditional' medicine; its ready-made patent formulas, which make it look 'scientific' and 'modern', are easy to consume; and its entrepreneurial set-up has several advantages over the bureaucratic structures of 'hospital medicine'. Chinese anti-malarials, artesiminin derivatives, reduce malarial fevers within hours, and though, strictly speaking, they are biomedical drugs, they are indeed dawa ya Kichina . Moreover, patients of TCM doctors sometimes experience rapid recovery, mostly due to skilled integration of biomedical and Chinese medical treatment. Further research is recommended to investigate the primary health care potential of such integrated Chinese and biomedical treatment.
Research Interests: African Studies, Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Primary Health Care, Health Care, and 13 moreChina, Migration Studies, Tanzania, Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Christian Ministry, Anthropology of Medicine, Alternative Medicine, Medical Training, Public health systems and services research, Health Care Provider, Ministry of Health, and Medical Treatment
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Paul D Buell and Eugene N Anderson, A soup for the Qan: Chinese dietary medicine of the Mongol era as seen in Hu Szu-Hui's Yin-shan Cheng-yao, introduction, translation, commentary, and Chinese text, Sir Henry Wellcome Asian Series, London and New York, Kegan Paul International, 2000, pp. 715, £1...more
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Research Interests: Social Change, Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Traditional Medicine, Health Care, and 15 moreMalaria, Modernity, China, Health Policy, Tanzania, Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Westernization, Humans, Complementary Therapies, TCM, Antimalarials, Artemisinin, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and Interviews as topic
Artemisinin is currently used for treating drug-resistant malaria. It is found in Artemisia annua and also in A. apiacea and A. lancea. Artemisia annua and A. apiacea were known to the Chinese in antiquity and, since they were easily... more
Artemisinin is currently used for treating drug-resistant malaria. It is found in Artemisia annua and also in A. apiacea and A. lancea. Artemisia annua and A. apiacea were known to the Chinese in antiquity and, since they were easily confused with each other, both provided plant material for the herbal drug qing hao (blue-green hao). This article shows, however, that since at least the eleventh century Chinese scholars recognized the difference between the two species, and advocated the use of A. apiacea, rather than A. annua for 'treating lingering heat in joints and bones' and 'exhaustion due to heat/fevers'. The article furthermore provides a literal translation of the method of preparing qing hao for treating intermittent fever episodes, as advocated by the eminent physician Ge Hong in the fourth century CE. His recommendation was to soak the fresh plant in cold water, wring it out and ingest the expressed juice in its raw state. Both findings may have important practical implications for current traditional usage of the plant as an antimalarial: rather than using the dried leaves of A. annua in warm infusions, it suggests that fresh juice extraction from A. apiacea may improve efficacy.
Research Interests: Microbiology, Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Ethnobotany, Chinese Studies, and 15 moreTraditional Medicine, Medical Microbiology, Malaria, China, Medieval Islamic History, Medicine, Phytotherapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Humans, Artemisia, Sesquiterpenes, Fever, Public health systems and services research, Materia Medica, and Extraction Method
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Fieldwork experiences can lead the ethnographer to decide that certain problems of interpreting social practice are best reformulated by exploring ... Frake's study resulted in a taxonomy of the Subanun words for skin diseases,... more
Fieldwork experiences can lead the ethnographer to decide that certain problems of interpreting social practice are best reformulated by exploring ... Frake's study resulted in a taxonomy of the Subanun words for skin diseases, based on the method of componential analysis. ...
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... Date accepted: 15 April 2000 ELISABETH HSU University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK ... The earliest extant recordings of the 'pulses indicating danger of death' are in the fifth chapter of the Pulse Canon (Mai jing 5) of the... more
... Date accepted: 15 April 2000 ELISABETH HSU University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK ... The earliest extant recordings of the 'pulses indicating danger of death' are in the fifth chapter of the Pulse Canon (Mai jing 5) of the third century AD. ...
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ABSTRACT This paper is about a pre-modern `science of touch'ÐChinese pulse diagnosticsÐ which was the aspect of Chinese medicine most admired by physicians in early modern Europe. The paper ®rst provides some historical information... more
ABSTRACT This paper is about a pre-modern `science of touch'ÐChinese pulse diagnosticsÐ which was the aspect of Chinese medicine most admired by physicians in early modern Europe. The paper ®rst provides some historical information on Chinese pulse ...
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Since our first primordial breath, wind has been a central theme of cultural thought. Wind in its different guises - from 'natural phenomenon' of air in motion, to embodied 'life giving' experiences, and deities and... more
Since our first primordial breath, wind has been a central theme of cultural thought. Wind in its different guises - from 'natural phenomenon' of air in motion, to embodied 'life giving' experiences, and deities and spirits - has contributed to the richness of human ideas and ...
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Chunyu Yi war ein Arzt der westlichen Han (206-9 v.Chr.), der der traditionellen chinesischen Geschichtsschreibung zufolge um das Jahr 215 v.Chr. geboren wurde. Er arbeitete bis ins 36. Lebensjahr als Beamter im Konigtum Qi, ehe er sich... more
Chunyu Yi war ein Arzt der westlichen Han (206-9 v.Chr.), der der traditionellen chinesischen Geschichtsschreibung zufolge um das Jahr 215 v.Chr. geboren wurde. Er arbeitete bis ins 36. Lebensjahr als Beamter im Konigtum Qi, ehe er sich vollzeitig dem Medizinstudium zuwandte. Der Historiker under Astrologe Sima Qian widmete ihm im 105. Kapitel der Aufzeichnungen des Historikers ( Shiji ) eine Denkschrift, welche zwei Versionen seiner Biographie enthalt, 25 medizinische Fallgeschichten und acht Fragen und Antworten. Diese Denkschrift enthalt - in erstaunlichem Detail und mit entwaffnender Frische 0 Angaben zur fruhen chinesischen medizinischen Diagnose, Theorie und Behandlung. Textkritische Untersuchungen lassen vermuten, dass der Text auf einem Dokument des fruhen 2. Jahhunderts v.Chr. basiert, aber dass er spater erweitert, selektiv editiert und kommentiert wurde und daher nur in kodierter Form medizinisches Wissen aus dem 2. Jahrhundert widerspiegelt. Chunyu Yi was a physician of ...
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This Special Issue of the Journal of the Anthropological Society at Oxford argues that anthropology matters, even as taught in a perceived ivory tower, the University of Oxford, and that it does so especially in times of crisis. Rather... more
This Special Issue of the Journal of the Anthropological Society at Oxford argues that anthropology matters, even as taught in a perceived ivory tower, the University of Oxford, and that it does so especially in times of crisis. Rather than aiming to add yet another publication to the avalanche of social-scientific comments on the Trump election, this JASO Special Issue, ‘Anthropology matters, especially in times of crisis’, presents graduate students’ reflections on why they are enrolled in a graduate course to learn about anthropology, which in their case is a master’s course in medical anthropology. They were asked to address the questions why are you reading anthropology, why might anthropology matter, and why does it matter, especially in times of crisis
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In the first part of his treatise he discusses the aetiology, the symptoms and the therapy of “podagra” *. In the beginning of the second part he declares that the principles of Chinese and Japanese doctors are far too difficult to... more
In the first part of his treatise he discusses the aetiology, the symptoms and the therapy of “podagra” *. In the beginning of the second part he declares that the principles of Chinese and Japanese doctors are far too difficult to explain and that he will therefore limit himself to the discussion of two Chinese and two Japanese figures which represent the meridians. He called the lines drawn on the surface of these figures “vasi” (veins and arteries), which led to much confusion in later times. In the third part, entitled “De Acupunctura”, he discusses different types of needles (silver, golden etc.) and different modes of puncturing (eg the needle is inserted by rotation, or it is hammered into the skin with a small hammer). He is aware of the possibility of treating pain by needling a distant acupuncture point. He also understands that needling has an effect on “Qi” (which he translates as “flatus” or “Spiritus”), but he misunderstands its purpose and effect: “... ut flatus ille ...
The complexity and scale of the AIDS crisis in Africa has so far eluded effective prevention and treatment. It has also eluded full comprehension. The goal of the workshop held on the 22 June 2007, on which this Handbook is based, was to... more
The complexity and scale of the AIDS crisis in Africa has so far eluded effective prevention and treatment. It has also eluded full comprehension. The goal of the workshop held on the 22 June 2007, on which this Handbook is based, was to enhance communication across disciplines involved with research on HIV/AIDS at Oxford. It had the explicit aim of bridging the divide between the social and the natural sciences and exploring the possibilities for collaboration. Particularly, it was hoped that it would provide a new stimulus to AIDS research within anthropology, as the discipline in the UK has been slow to rise to the challenges posed by the pandemic. Thus, this initiative was taken within the programme for Medical Anthropology, which since its inception six years ago, has aimed to enhance understanding between the social and biological sciences within the medical field. Senior researchers of each relevant research unit/field working on HIV/AIDS within the University of Oxford outli...
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In the most recent phase of environmental knowledge research, researchers have begun to focus their attention towards the dynamic aspects of indigenous knowledge and, thus, processes of knowledge transmission and creation have become... more
In the most recent phase of environmental knowledge research, researchers have begun to focus their attention towards the dynamic aspects of indigenous knowledge and, thus, processes of knowledge transmission and creation have become central to current environmental and ethnobotany research. Plants, Health and Healing constitutes an important contribution to this literature, providing new approaches for exploring human–environment interactions and perceptions. The book is clearly divided into three sections (History, Anthropology, Plant Portraits): two chapters for each part, for a total of six interesting contributions, plus the editorial introductions. The co-authors have different approaches to medicinal plants, due to their different backgrounds and interests (medical anthropology, ethnobotany, history of botany, clinical medicine). What is in common is the focus on practices of using plants for maintaining health: thus, the main purpose of this book is to investigate how people relate to plants and how they transform them into cultural artefacts. Engaging with ‘the materiality of plants’ (p. 3), all the contributors aim not to provide long lists of local names and usages of plants, as the majority of research does in this field; rather, they are all interested in considering plant knowledge in its context, as embedded into practice and social relations. Plants are turned into cultural artefacts when they become part of human practice (in this case medicinal practice): in Hsu’s words, ‘plants have materiality in that they emerge from relations and establish or rebuild relations’ (p. 21) and hence the related knowledge ‘arises in negotiation with the materiality of the plants and the human bodies with which they interact’ (p. 16). In the introduction, Elisabeth Hsu summarizes the major issues in medical anthropology (disease/illness, personalistic/naturalistic, biology/culture, genetic/social dichotomies) in relation to both ethnomedicine and ethnobotany disciplines. With a background in biology and social anthropology, Hsu discusses two different perspectives, biological and cultural: she criticizes the empirical way of knowing – typical of the natural and biomedical sciences – based on a relation between a detached observer and the object (the natural world), and she challenges the cognitive assumptions that individuals and environment are discrete and pre-given entities. Instead, Hsu argues that human beings perceive and interact with their environment (in this case plants) in an unmediated and direct way, in embedded and ‘practice-based modality’ (p. 2), supporting her argument with reference to different theories on the unity and continuum between human beings and the natural world (the ‘indivisible totality’ as Ingold puts it) by Latour, Gibson, Ingold and Grasseni. Abandoning the idea – common to many ethno-biological studies –
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Based on fieldwork conducted between 2001-2008 in urban East Africa, this book explores who the patients, practitioners and paraprofessionals doing Chinese medicine were in this early period of renewed China-Africa relations. Rather than... more
Based on fieldwork conducted between 2001-2008 in urban East Africa, this book explores who the patients, practitioners and paraprofessionals doing Chinese medicine were in this early period of renewed China-Africa relations. Rather than taking recourse to the ‘placebo effect’, the author explains through the spatialities and materialities of the medical procedures provided why - apart from purchasing the Chinese antimalarial called Artemisinin - locals would try out their ‘alternatively modern’ formulas for treating a wide range of post-colonial disorders and seek their sexual enhancement medicines.
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Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a term coined in the People's Republic of China of the 1950s in an effort to approximate the Chinese term zhongyi. It refers to a form of medical learning where reasoning in terms of systemic... more
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a term coined in the People's Republic of China of the 1950s in an effort to approximate the Chinese term zhongyi. It refers to a form of medical learning where reasoning in terms of systemic correspondences prevails, including the so‐called five agents or five phases (wuxing), and where philosophical concepts such as yinyang and qi play a central role. This entry discusses first the history of TCM and then aspects of its practice. Neither can be fully understood without some knowledge of its philosophical foundations.