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KMID : 0363320120330020111
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Journal of Korean Oriental Internal Medicine
2012 Volume.33 No. 2 p.111 ~ p.125
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Medicine within Society, Society within Medicine : An Anthropological Exploration of Korean Medicine in South Korea and Traditional Chinese Medicine in China
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Kim Tae-Woo
Han Chang-Ho
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Abstract
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Objectives: One of the fundamental premises of medical anthropology is the interconnectedness of medicine and society. Recent ethnographies of medicine demonstrate that the interconnectedness of the social and the medical not just evokes relatedness of the two parties, but also emphasizes the agency of the constituents, mutually shaping and being shaped. Against this backdrop, this study attempts to anthropologically investigate Korean medicine in South Korea and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in China.
Methods: The findings are based on anthropological studies of East Asian medicine employing long-term fieldwork about Korean Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Results: TCM is characterized by standardization, hospitalization, and scientization, by which simplification, collectivization, and biomedicalization prevail in contemporary traditional medicine in China. In contrast, Korean medicine is characterized by diversity, care delivery by individual private clinics, and a considerable distance from biomedicine. To understand the divergence of the two East Asian medicines, one should consider the social contexts intervening into the medical contents, such as the role of the state and dominant discourses in given historical periods.
Conclusions: Korean medicine in South Korea and TCM in China demonstrate well the hybridity of the social and the medical, suggesting that, for more comprehensive understanding of the medical, the social should be paid attention to.
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KEYWORD
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Korean medicine, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), medical anthropology, traditional medicine, East Asian medicine
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