Their footprints remain : biomedical beginnings across the Indo-Tibetan frontier / Alex McKay.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McKay, Alex.

Series:

IIAS publications series. Monographs ; 1.

IIAS publications series. Monographs ; 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religious Missions--history.

Medicine.

History.

Bhutan.

Sikkim.

Tibet.

History, 19th Century.

History, 20th Century.

Medicine, East Asian Traditional--history.

Medicine--History--19th century.

Medicine--History--20th century.

Tibet Autonomous Region (China).

Sikkim (India).

Medical Subjects:

Religious Missions--history.

Bhutan.

Sikkim.

Tibet.

History, 19th Century.

History, 20th Century.

Medicine, East Asian Traditional--history.

Physical Description:

302 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

[Amsterdam] : Amsterdam University Press, [2007]

Summary:

At the end of the 19th century, Western medicine was introduced into Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan by British imperial medical officers and Christian medical missionaries. Their Footprints Remain: Biomedical Beginnings Across the Indo-Tibetan Frontier uses archival sources, personal letters, diaries, and oral sources to tell the fascinating story of how the new medical system became imbedded in the Himalayas. It identifies the individuals involved, including the local employees of the British, describes how the new system spread, and discusses how it was received by the local people of this region, whose own medical practices were based on an entirely different understanding of the world. It will appeal to everyone with an interest in medical history and anthropology, or the Himalayan world.

Contents:

Regional scope 22

Significance of the period 26

Motives 27

The historical context of medicine in the Tibetan world 30

Sources; primary and secondary 34

Missionaries 40

The Indian Medical Service and the Subordinate Medical Service 42

Frontier medicine 47

Environment 49

1 Missionary Medicine and the Rise of Kalimpong 55

Early missionary approaches to Tibet through the western Himalayas 61

Darjeeling and the development of Kalimpong 67

The Church of Scotland Mission 71

Dr. Shelton and the eastern Tibetan frontier 76

2 Sikkim: Imperial Stepping-stone to Tibet 85

Sikkimese traditional medicine 90

Missionary medicine in Sikkim 91

State development of biomedicine 96

Health conditions in Sikkim 103

The post-colonial generation 106

The modern Sikkimese medical world 110

3 Biomedicine and Buddhist Medicine in Tibet 115

Missionary beginnings 115

Early Western medicine in Tibet 116

Medical work on the Younghusband mission (1903-04) 118

The Gyantse dispensary 122

Issues of race and class 127

Smallpox vaccination in Tibet 134

4 Medical myths and Tibetan trends 143

The myth of venereal disease in Tibet 147

Accepting biomedicine in Tibet 153

Biomedicine at Lhasa 157

Biomedicine from other nations 163

Cultural perspectives and concessions 166

Post-colonial developments 168

5 Bhutan: A Later Development 172

Visits by IMS officers 175

Maharajas and missionaries 184

The colonial period: Some conclusions 187

Post-colonial developments 189

Structures and diseases in Bhutanese public health 193

Medical ethics: A shared belief? 197

Bhutanese traditional medicine 199

6 The Choice of Systems 205

An absence of hegemony 206

Availability and cost as factors in medical resort 210

Nationalist factors in resort 213

Monastic competition and the rise of a new elite class 217

The importance of education 219

World views, process, and biomedicine 221

Patient choice 225

Process, policy, and resort 231

'Enclavism' and 'resistance' 234

Intermediaries and patrons 236

Nationalism 239

Ethics and standards 241

Appendix Attendance at Gyantse and Yatung IMS dispensaries 245

Civil Dispensary: Gyantse 245

Yatung 247.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9789053565186

9053565183

OCLC:

192072380