Afterword: On Naming and the Politics of Practice

Abstract

Anthropological and historical studies on Sowa Rigpa (“the science of healing”) have multiplied in the last ten years. Unlike other revived Asian medical traditions whose names reflect the nationalistic fervor of the early and mid-twentieth century, the revival of the Tibetan medical currents of learning commenced more recently, at a time when its study can benefit from the expertise of globally mobile scholar-practitioners. This globalizing of scholarship opens up exciting possibilities for engaged research, but it also warrants reflection.

Keywords:

• Medical revival
• naming
• Sowa Rigpa
• East Asian medicine

Notes

1 Millard's coauthored articles thus relate to themes 1, 2, and 5; Cuomu and Blaikie to themes 3 and 4; and Kloos to themes 2, 3, and 4, while Bassini discusses a primary health issue that generally is omitted in studies on learned medicines but that develops issues discussed in Fjeld and Hofer 2012–11.

2 To which might be added Peregrine Horden and the author's The Body in Balance (2013).