Abstract
Through ethnographic research at the Graduate School of East-West Medical Science (GSM) at Kyung Hee University in South Korea, this paper examines how a hybrid research team translates Korean medicine (KM) into scientific languages through the mobilization of laboratory science in a global knowledge-making field. Paying attention to the asymmetric power relationship between KM and science, I show that the richness and liveliness of KM is truncated as it enters the global scientific field. This lab study examines: (1) KM's double approach to local KM and global scientific fields; (2) the lab's political function in relation to biomedicine and science; and (3) the identity crisis and reconstruction of KM caused by its scientific translation.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 855-880 |
Number of pages | 26 |
Journal | Social Studies of Science |
Volume | 37 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2007 |
Keywords
- Globalization
- Korean medicine
- Laboratory studies
- Neuroscience
- Scientific translation