Review by Choice Review
To stay relevant in today's world, traditional medicine, i.e., the knowledge and healing practices indigenous to a specific culture, must negotiate a fine balance between long-standing, even ancient, practices and biomedical therapeutic efficacy. The central premise of Healing Elements is that treatment efficacy, far from being a product of the quantitative realms of science, is a biopsychosocial and political-economic idea, firmly rooted in what the author calls "global regimes of governance" and "global pharma." Craig (anthropology, Dartmouth) has written several other well-received books on Tibetan medicine and its adaptations to modernity. In the first two chapters of this book, she provides ethnographic chronicles of the day-to-day activities of Tibetan medicine practitioners in rural Nepal and at a major medical facility in urban China. Following chapters discuss Tibetan medicine within the context of standardized regulation and the ecological and political connections to the production of plant-based medicinal remedies. Chapters are framed by the author's personal experiences, embedding this rigorous analysis of contemporary Tibetan medicine in a deeply moving account of circumstances that are little known today. An extensive glossary and notes support the text. A valuable resource for anyone interested in contemporary issues pertaining to Tibetan medicine. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. J. Saxton Bastyr University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
