The article reviews the book "Kalte Kräuter und Heisse Bäder: Die Anwendung der Tibetischen Medizin in den Klöstern Amdos/Cold Herbs and Hot Baths: The Application of Tibetan Medicine in Amdo's Monasteries," by Katherina Sabernig.
The article reviews the book "Manufacturing Tibetan Medicine: The Creation of an Industry and the Moral Economy of Tibetanness" by Martin Saxer.
After living and studying in India for a decade, I enrolled in the Master’s course in Medical Anthropology at Oxford in 2002 as one of twelve students from five countries. Studying at Oxford was such an inspiring experience that I continued with a D.Phil. in Social Anthropology, researching longevity practices and concepts of the life-span in Tibetan societies in India (Gerke 2012a). I then taught at three universities in the USA and Germany, and pursued a post-doc at the Humboldt University, Berlin, on detoxification methods in Tibetan pharmacology and on how ideas of toxicity are translated cross-culturally (2011-2015). Critical course discussions that we had at Oxford on efficacy made me look at issues of safety and helped me think anthropologically about toxicity. How can we study toxic ingredients of medicines with research methods specific to anthropology in the absence of laboratories and biomedical testing tools? Looking at changing anthropological approaches to efficacy and safety are my entry points for this article, which provides some of the groundwork necessary to address questions of how Tibetan doctors translate their ideas of toxicity and detoxification to a Western audience.
Sowa Rigpa is generally translated as 'the science of healing' and often used synonymously for 'Tibetan medicine'. Historically, Sowa Rigpa can be considered a borrowed term from Sanskrit, accompanied by an adopted sense of
Robert Saunders was a surgeon on the British Turner expedition to Tibet in 1783-85. In 1789, Saunders published a description of a mercury processing method for treating 'the venereal disease' that he witnessed at Tashilhunpo. Since Saunders himself used mercury for his patients, the question arises whether he described a Tibetan method of processing mercury or projected his own experiences on what he saw. This paper traces parallels of his description and analyses venereal diseases in Tibetan medical texts. The symptoms described in these texts cannot be easily equated with modern syphilis. This article explores the following questions: How were venereal diseases classified in Tibetan medical texts? Were mercurials mentioned to treat them? Were they intended to cause salivation? In answering these questions, the heterogeneity and exchange of medical practices in Tibet from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century, involving the use of mercury for venereal treatments, becomes apparent.
A response from the author of the article on the research on collaborative event ethnography (CEE) organized by engaged anthropologists in Tibet, China is presented.
Gerke, Barbara. "Review of Frances Garrett, 'Religion, Medicine and the Human Embryo in Tibet.' London/New York, Routledge 2008.". Traditional South Asian Medicine 9 (2017): 248-53.
Gerke, B. 2013. Review of "Body& Spirit: Tibetan Medical Paintings" by Laila Williamson and Serinity Young (eds.). Museum Anthropology 36 (1):87-88.
Gerke, B. 2006. Review of "Testosterone Dreams: Rejuvenation, Aphrodisia, Doping" by J. Hoberman. Journal of Biosocial Science 38 (6):843-844.
Gerke, Barbara. 2018. Review of “The Patient Multiple: An Ethnography of Healthcare and Decision Making in Bhutan.” by Jonathan Taee, 2017. Anthropos no. 113:761-762.
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