Project Members

This sub-group investigates the construction and deconstruction of medical culture, paying close attention to material culture. It examines the theoretical principles and methods for the use of drugs and medical instrument, and considers the culturally conceived qualities of drug ingredients, all to interpret the construction and making of medicaments. This group consists of Che-chia Chang (Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, AS), Hsiang-lin Lei (Institute of Modern History, AS), Jender Lee (Institute of History and Philology, AS), Shao-li Lu (National Taiwan University), Hsiu-fen Chen (National Cheng-chi University), Dominik Merdes(Technische Universität Braunschweig), Bettina Wahrig(Abteilung für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften mit Schwerpunkt Pharmaziegeschichte), Sabine Dabringhaus(Institute of History, Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg), Michael Stanley-Baker(Nanyang Technological University: Singapore).

This group examines the cultural norms, social needs, personnel, material instruments, and technologies for the care of the body. The areas cover personal and public hygiene, life nurturance (yangsheng), soma-psychology, and elderly and disability care. The members are Shang-Jen Li (Institute of History and Philology, AS), Yu-Chuan Wu (Institute of History and Philology, AS), Wenhua Kuo (National Yangming University), Sascha Klotzbücher(University of Kiel), Dagmar Schäfer(Freie Universität)

Both groups scrutinize the role of materials in the building and un-building of medical cultures, in particular the establishment of practices and behavior, instruments and ingredients.