Fieldwork and Methodologies in Studies of the History of Medicine, Health, and Epidemics in China: Barefoot Doctors and the Cholera Pandemic
Associate Professor Xiaoping Fang (Monash)
Dates: Monday, 25/3/2024
Time: 5:30pm
Venue: New Law Building (F10), Level 3, Room 344
How to register: Free, no registration required
Abstract: This talk introduces fieldwork and methodologies in studies of the history of medicine, health, and epidemics in China based on the analysis of two major medical and public health movements in Mao’s China—the barefoot doctor program that provided primary health care in rural China in the 1960s and 1970s and the health emergency response to the global cholera pandemic that affected southeast coastal China from1961 to 1965. These historical and ethnographical studies re-interpreted the stereotypical arguments of both government propaganda and academic communities by exploring bottom-up perspectives, local documents and oral materials, along with anthropological and sociological theoretical frameworks. The studies introduced two theoretical concepts “dynamic medical pluralism” and “the emergency disciplinary state” to shed light on the rise and evolution of state medical systems and the dynamic relationship between health governance and political governance in China.
Bio: Xiaoping Fang is an Associate Professor of Chinese Studies at Monash University. His research interests focus on the history of medicine, health, and epidemics in China and the socio-political history of Mao’s China. He is the author of Barefoot Doctors and Western Medicine in China (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2012) and China and the Cholera Pandemic: Restructuring Society under Mao (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021). He has published articles in journals such as Modern China, The China Quarterly, Modern Asian Studies, and Medical History.