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This is the first critical and detailed account of Tibetan medicine's re-establishment and development in exile. Based on over 150 interviews with key figures as well as previously untranslated written sources gathered during more than one year
Tibetan medicine or Sowa Rigpa was largely ignored in classic publications on “Asian medical systems.” This article contends that one important reason for this oversight was that Tibetan medicine had not yet managed to establish itself as a recognizable medical system at that time. This has changed only recently with ongoing political and economic processes through which Tibetan medicine in exile has been transformed, since the 1990s, from a regional health tradition into a globally recognizable and clearly defined and delimited medical system. After some reflection on the notion of medical systems, this article focuses on the events and interests that led to the establishment of the Central Council of Tibetan Medicine in early 2004, which can be regarded as the official establishment of Sowa Rigpa as a medical system. The discussion then moves on to the consequences of this development for Tibetan medicine in exile at large, and for its most powerful institution, the Men-Tsee-Khang, in particular. The outcome of wider exile Tibetan political aspirations, Sowa Rigpa’s “embodiment” as a medical system also has direct medical and pharmaceutical dimensions, manifesting most importantly in efforts to regulate and standardize its syllabi, clinical practice, and pharmaceutical production. The article gives in-depth insights into some of the most important recent developments in Tibetan medicine in exile, its economic and political organization, and the role of its main institutions.
In this article I explore, for the first time, the relationship between Sowa Rigpa (Tibetan medicine) and global health, tracing "the global" in ethical discourses and pharmaceutical innovation practices of Tibetan medical practitioners. I argue that Sowa Rigpa's engagement with the world and its global health activities outside China can be understood as a form of "humanitarianism from below," while its industrialization in China aligns with global health in different ways. In providing new insights into recent developments of Sowa Rigpa, I aim to decenter the notion of humanitarianism and contribute to a broader understanding of global health.;
(Im-)Potent Knowledges. Preserving 'Traditional' Tibetan Medicine Through Modern Science
Introduction: The Translation and Development of Tibetan Medicine in Exile
Navigating 'Modern Science'and 'Traditional Culture': the Dharamsala Men-Tsee-Khang in India
This article analyses the history and development of Tibetan medicine in exile from the perspective of the pervasive Tibetan exile narrative of preservation and loss. Through combined ethnographic and historical data, it shows how the preservation of
The article reviews the book "Precious Pills: Medicine and Social Change Among Tibetan Refugees in India," by Audrey Prost.
Tibetan Medicine in Exile: The Ethics, Politics and Science of Cultural Survival
This article advances the hypothesis that “traditional” Asian pharmaceutical industries are rapidly growing in size and prominence in contemporary Asia, and identifies a lack of empirical data on the phenomenon. Addressing this gap, the article provides a quantitative outline and analysis of the Sowa Rigpa (Tibetan, Mongolian and Himalayan medicine) pharmaceutical industry in China, India, Mongolia and Bhutan. Using original data gathered through multi-sited ethnographic and textual research between 2014 and 2019, involving 232 industry representatives, policy makers, researchers, pharmacists and physicians, it assembles a bigger picture on this industry's structure, size and dynamics. Revealing a tenfold growth of the Sowa Rigpa pharmaceutical industry in Asia between 2000 and 2017, the study supports its initial hypothesis. In 2017, the industry had a total sales value of 677.5 million USD, and constituted an important economic and public health resource in Tibetan, Mongolian and Himalayan regions of Asia. China generates almost 98 percent of the total sales value, which is explained by significant state intervention on the one hand, and historical and sociocultural reasons on the other. India has the second largest Sowa Rigpa pharmaceutical industry with an annual sales value of about 11 million USD, while sales values in Mongolia and Bhutan are very low, despite Sowa Rigpa's domestic importance for the two nations. The article concludes with a number of broader observations emerging from the presented data, arguing that the Sowa Rigpa pharmaceutical industry has become big enough to exert complex transformative effects on Tibetan, Mongolian and Himalayan medicine more generally. The quantitative and qualitative data presented here provide crucial foundations for further scholarly, regulatory, and professional engagement with contemporary Sowa Rigpa.