C. Michele Thompson, Vietnamese Traditional Medicine: A Social History

Abstract

China colonised what is now Vietnam for over 1,000 years and remains a critical reference point for what makes something Vietnamese, from family and kinship structures to forms of civil administration, educational systems and health beliefs. Indeed, as C. Michele Thompson underscores in Vietnamese Traditional Medicine, the tributary relationship between China and Vietnam resulted in the regular and formal exchange of medical texts, practitioners and materia medica over centuries. What exactly defines ‘traditional Vietnamese medicine’ is a topic of debate, particularly in terms of what distinguishes ‘Southern’ or Vietnamese medicine (Thuốc Nam) from its Northern Chinese neighbours (Thuốc Bắc). In this book, Thompson challenges scholarship that ‘consistently undervalues’ (p. 23) the contributions of Vietnamese physicians to both the theoretical and the practical aspects of medicine in Vietnam. Instead, she sets up her study as a presentation of ‘specific episodes of the smallpox story that illustrate how Vietnamese healers practiced medicine on their own terms’ (p. 23). In particular, Thompson stresses the importance of analysing the language used in medical texts in order to appreciate the theoretical foundations of traditional Vietnamese medical practice and its historical relationship with Chinese medicine.