Alternative medicine's encounter with laboratory science: The scientific construction of Korean medicine in a global age

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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 languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)855-880
Number of pages26
JournalSocial Studies of Science
Volume37
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2007

Keywords

  • Globalization
  • Korean medicine
  • Laboratory studies
  • Neuroscience
  • Scientific translation

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