History of Medicine, Healing, and the Bo

This course examines major themes in the history of medicine and the political economy of health, illness, and healing in China. It covers a range of subjects, including the social and cultural construction of illness and illness categories, healers and their roles, modernizing states and their interest in knowledge and development, the relation of local healing systems with biomedicine, the place of individual and social agency in health management, and the impact of colonialism and post-colonial nation-state building on patterns of illness, health, and health care in China.