The Pharmaceutical Assemblage: Rethinking Sowa Rigpa and the Herbal Pharmaceutical Industry in Asia

Abstract

Cutting-edge anthropological research on pharmaceuticals aims to trace the connections that link our health and subjectivity, via the drugs we ingest, to contemporary forms of science, governance, and market practice. Yet this research is mostly limited to biomedical pharmaceuticals, ignoring the vast and rapidly growing “traditional” pharmaceutical industry, which connects contemporary forms of culture, capitalism, and politics in arguably even more interesting ways. Addressing this gap, this programmatic essay proposes the concept of the “pharmaceutical assemblage” as a way to assess the traditional pharmaceutical industry as part of Asia’s growing knowledge industry sector and the global pharmaceutical nexus. Taking the emerging Sowa Rigpa (also known as Tibetan medicine) industry as a particularly illustrative example, the article outlines an interdisciplinary approach to study this industry as a larger, transnational entity with its own role and dynamics. Identifying and discussing four major domains of the Sowa Rigpa industry—raw materials, drug-manufacturing processes, the market, and intellectual property rights—this article argues that the concept of the pharmaceutical assemblage can generate a much-needed bigger picture of traditional medicine and a fresh perspective on the confluences of culture, health, economy, governance, and the environment in contemporary Asia.