Traditional Vietnamese Medicine


Book Description

Traditional Vietnamese Medicine is a short informational guide to common Vietnamese medicine practices. Whether you are a healthcare professional or layperson, this guide is for you. Traditional Vietnamese Medicine will give you a new or enhanced perspective of traditional medicine through easy-to-understand explanations of various practices of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine (TVM), including wind scraping, cupping, and acupuncture. Each practice is described in regards to its overview and history, beliefs regarding its health benefits, and any potential health risks. This book has been written to spread more information to the general population, ultimately hoping to improve communication and understanding between patients and their healthcare practitioners.




Southern Medicine for Southern People


Book Description

What is a national medicine? What does it mean for a medicine to be traditional and scientific at the same time? How could a specifically Vietnamese medicine emerge out of the medical practices and treatments that have flourished and waned during key socio-cultural encounters in Vietnam? This book answers these questions by examining the making of Vietnamese medicine from a historical and contemporary perspective. Ever since its fourteenth century emergence out of the traditions and practices of the much more globally celebrated Chinese medicine, Vietnamese medicine has been engaged in a constant effort to define, guard and more recently, revive itself. In this collection of empirically-rich chapters, international scholars specialising in history, sociology, anthropology and medicine show how this process has played out through very much ongoing North-South and West-East encounters. Vietnamese medicine is practiced, produced and consumed in contexts of medical pluralism and globalisation, not only within Vietnam, but increasingly also among the Vietnamese diaspora around the world. Its development and modernisation cannot be detached from Vietnam’s tumultuous and tragic quest for independence. The compass points that saturate every chapter in this volume suggest that the making of Vietnamese medicine has been as much related to post-colonial national identity formation as it has to national efforts to address the health problems of the Vietnamese people.




Healing with Whole Foods, Third Edition


Book Description

With more than 600,000 copies sold, this treasure trove of nutritional wisdom is an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to nurture their body through natural means. Uncover the power of food as nature's ultimate medicine and unlock the healing potentials that rest within your own kitchen. Embark on a transformative wellness journey with Paul Pitchford's bestselling Healing with Whole Foods. This comprehensive handbook goes beyond the simple integration of traditional Chinese Medicine and modern nutritional science: it's a beacon of wisdom and insights for individuals committed to healthful living and holistic practitioners alike. Discover what makes Healing with Whole Foods a timeless bestseller: Holistic Foundations: The book grounds you in the principles of Qi vitality and Yin-Yang balance, illuminating the path of holistic healing and nutrition. Bridging Ancient and Modern: With masterful proficiency, Pitchford interlaces the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine with contemporary nutritional science. Explore categories such as "Oils and Fats," "Sweeteners," "Green Food Products," and "Vitamins and Supplements." Therapeutic Guide: Delve into a dedicated section devoted to dietary treatments for prevalent health issues. Whether it's blood sugar imbalances or degenerative disorders, uncover practical, actionable guidance deeply rooted in the power of natural healing. Informed Eating: The book enlightens you on the deeper nuances of your diet, touching upon elements like food presentation and dietary practices, and their significant impact on wellness. Delicious Healing Recipes: Immerse yourself in Part V, with vegetarian recipes that unite robust flavor with therapeutic benefits. A Lifelong Companion: Pitchford's in-depth, reader-friendly approach makes the book a lifetime go-to guide for reliable nutritional insights. Readers return time and again to delve deeper into its vast knowledge base. Transformational Journey: Embarking on the journey with Healing with Whole Foods is a commitment to enhanced physical, mental, and emotional health. It inspires you to personalize your dietary plan, in tune with your unique needs. Ultimately, Healing with Whole Foods is more than just a book—it's an invitation to a healthier way of living. It beautifully illustrates how traditional wisdom and modern science can come together to inform our nutritional choices. This comprehensive guide invites you to embark on a journey of wellness, empowerment, and self-discovery, all facilitated by the power of whole foods.




Familiar Medicine


Book Description

One of the first medical ethnographies to be written on contemporary Vietnam, Familiar Medicine examines the practical ways in which people of the Red River Delta make sense of their bodies, illness, and medicine. Traditional knowledge and practices have persisted but are now expressed through and alongside global medical knowledge and commodities. Western medicine has been eagerly adopted and incorporated into everyday life in Vietnam, but not entirely on its own terms. Familiar Medicine takes a conjectural, interdisciplinary approach to its subject, weaving together history, ethnography, cultural geography, and survey materials to provide a rich and readable account of local practices in the context of an increasingly globalized world and growing microbial resistance to antibiotics. Theoretically, it draws on current critical and cultural theory (in particular applying Pierre Bourdieu's work on habitus and practical logics) in innovative but approachable ways. David Craig addresses a range of contemporary fascinations in medical anthropology and the sociology of health and illness: from the trafficking of medical commodities and ideas under globalization to the hybridization of local cultural formations, knowledge, and practices. His book will be required reading for international workers in health and development in Vietnam and a rich resource for courses in cultural geography, anthropology, medical sociology, regional studies, and public and international health.




Pills, Teas, and Songs


Book Description

According to the Pew Research Center, half of the general American public has tried alternative medicine. Nguyen dares to ask, how often do people do so without understanding the culture where those medicines originated? Pills, Teas, and Songs: Stories of Medicine around the World is a collection of stories to deepen respect, inspire understanding, and spark curiosity. This book is dedicated to educating readers who are interested in incorporating different medicinal systems into their lives and to preserve the evolving legacy of healthcare. This book delves into... What cultural appropriation looks like in healthcare and wellness If Eastern and Western medicine are truly opposites Why immigrants and diasporic populations favor traditional medicine and heritage products The history behind Black midwifery in the US And much more Told through colorful stories of history and culture, Pills, Teas, and Songs: Stories of Medicine around the World is a timely reminder that, despite our differences, the human race has much more in common than we realize.




Beyond the Asylum


Book Description

This book is a must-read for any specialist in the history of colonial and post-colonial psychiatry, as well as a fantastic case study for those interested in the social history of European colonialism more generally.― Choice Claire Edington's fascinating look at psychiatric care in French colonial Vietnam challenges our notion of the colonial asylum as a closed setting, run by experts with unchallenged authority, from which patients rarely left. She shows instead a society in which Vietnamese communities and families actively participated in psychiatric decision-making in ways that strengthened the power of the colonial state, even as they also forced French experts to engage with local understandings of, and practices around, insanity. Beyond the Asylum reveals how psychiatrists, colonial authorities, and the Vietnamese public debated both what it meant to be abnormal, as well as normal enough to return to social life, throughout the early twentieth century. Straddling the fields of colonial history, Southeast Asian studies and the history of medicine, Beyond the Asylum shifts our perspective from the institution itself to its relationship with the world beyond its walls. This world included not only psychiatrists and their patients, but also prosecutors and parents, neighbors and spirit mediums, as well as the police and local press. How each group interacted with the mentally ill, with each other, and sometimes in opposition to each other, helped decide the fate of those both in and outside the colonial asylum.




Galen on Bloodletting


Book Description

Dr Brain has translated the works by the physician Galen on bloodletting, which provides by far the most comprehensive account of the practice in antiquity.







Global Movements, Local Concerns


Book Description

The contributors to this volume show how the practices of health in Southeast Asia over the past two centuries were mediated by local medical traditions, colonial interests, range of health agents and intermediaries.