Review by Choice Review
Larger in scope and more directly concerned with the problematic nature of modernity, this volume picks up where Paths to Asian Medical Knowledge, by C. Leslie and A. Young (1992), concludes. One of its many virtues is its engagement with a wide range of health issues, not limited to questions of epistemology, efficacy, and medical theory. Many of the 12 contributions are based on ethnographic fieldwork and engage admirably with contemporary theorizing about the body, historical process, and power. The volume seeks to integrate different levels of influence on healing, ranging from the state's role in controlling and orienting shamanism, midwifery, and sorcery to problems of identity, both national and personal. One of the few problems is that the logic behind the book's three internal subdivisions is not clear. Part 1 deals with the state, yet the state's role is central to almost all the contributions. Part 2 speaks of "healing on the margins," yet given the nuanced perspective on globalization in many of the essays, one wonders about distinguishing between margins and centers. Despite the problem of devoting a whole subdivision to a single area, one of the most important contributions is the placement Tibetan medicine at the center of discussions about traditional medicine in modern Asia. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. S. Alter University of Pittsburgh
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
