April 15, 2012: History & Myth in Chinese Medicine, Part II With C. Pierce Salguero, Ph.D.
on Wednesday, January 11, 2012
April 15, 2012, 3:00-5:00 p.m.
Practitioners of Chinese medicine often characterize their healing arts as “ancient,” imagining an unbroken tradition stretching back over thousands of years. Historians of Chinese medicine, on the other hand, have emphasized the ever-changing nature of Chinese medicine and have shown that modern practices have little to do with ancient precedents. This presentation will introduce the audience to the latest historical research on the history of acupuncture from its standardization by the government in the 11-12th centuries, to its modernization in the 19th and 20th century. At the heart of the presentation are the questions of why history matters to practitioners, and whether facts and myths can be reconciled.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will learn to separate facts from myths in the history of Chinese medicine.
- Participants will learn different interpretations of the foundations of Chinese medicine.
- Participants will learn the history of acupuncture from its origins to the present.
About Pierce Salguero:
Pierce Salguero is Assistant Professor of Asian History at Penn State University’s Abington College. Dr. Salguero has a Ph.D. in the History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and has published numerous books and articles on Asian medical history. He is a historian of medicine in China, specializing in religious healing in the medieval period.