Readings:

Jennings, Eric. 2009. “Confront Rabies and Its Treatments in Colonial Madagascar, 1899-1910.” Social History of Medicine 22. 2: 263-282.

Macpherson, Cluny and La’avasa Macpherson. 2003. “When Healing Cultures Collide: A case from the Pacific.” In Medicine Across Cultures: History and Practices of Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, edited by Helaine Selin. 191-207. Dordrecht, The Netherland: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Montgomery, Kathryn. 2011. “Redescribing Biomedicine: Towards the Integration of East Asian Medicine into Contemporary Healthcare.” In Integrating East Asian Medicine into Contemporary Healthcare: Authenticity, Best Practice and the Evidence Mosaic, edited by Volker Scheid and Hugh MacPherson, 229-234. New York: Elsevier Ltd.

• 1. In “Confront Rabies and Its Treatments in Colonial Madagascar, 1899-1910,” why has rabies played an important role in colonial medicine? What was special about rabies in Madagascar? What were the pre-colonial methods of rabies treatments in Madagascar? What were the socio-cultural implications behind these methods? In addition to the cultural factors that the local Pastorians had to take into consideration when implementing or forcing rabies treatment, what other concerns (environmental, medical, and so forth) did they have? (Give three examples of the cultural tension and divergence between French medical intervention of rabies and Malagasy people’s responses)
• 2. In “When Healing Cultures Collide,” what facilitated the changes of Polynesian societies after the end of the 18^th century? With the forces facilitating the changes, what kind of hybrid healing culture has emerged? Explain the similarities between the pre-contact and the new systems. What foundations have allowed the co-existence of these two systems?
• 3. In “Redescribing Biomedicine,” what is the limitation of biomedicine? What does the author mean by “phronesiology”? What is the author’s advice on integrating East Asian medicine into contemporary healthcare?