On September 29, 2024, the USC U.S.-China Institute hosted a workshop at the Huntington’s Chinese garden, offering K-12 educators hands-on insights into using the garden as a teaching tool. With expert presentations, a guided tour, and new resources, the event explored how Chinese gardens' rich history and cultural significance can be integrated into classrooms. Interested in learning more? Click below for details on the workshop and upcoming programs for educators.
Metadisciplinary Reflections on Buddhist Medicine in Medieval China
Dr. Salguero, organizer of a large international research project on this subject, will discuss how Buddhism and medicine were intimately intertwined in this period, and will raise a series of methodological and interdisciplinary challenges this fact poses for contemporary researchers in the History of Medicine and Religious Studies alike.
The transmission of Indo-European medicine to China in the medieval period represents one of the most significant and best-documented instances of cross-cultural medical exchange anywhere in the premodern world. A survey of medieval Chinese Buddhist texts from approximately 150-1000 C.E. shows that Buddhism played a surprisingly central role in facilitating this instance of medical exchange. Dr. Salguero, organizer of a large international research project on this subject, will discuss how Buddhism and medicine were intimately intertwined in this period, and will raise a series of methodological and interdisciplinary challenges this fact poses for contemporary researchers in the History of Medicine and Religious Studies alike.
Dr. Pierce Salguero is a transdisciplinary medical humanities scholar who is fascinated by historical and contemporary intersections between Buddhism, medicine, and crosscultural exchange. He has a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and teaches Asian history, medicine, and religion at Penn State University’s Abington College, located near Philadelphia.
The major theme in his scholarship is discovering the role of Buddhism in the global transmission and local reception of knowledge about health, disease, and the body. He approaches this topic using methodologies from history, religious studies, translation studies, ethnography, and documentary filmmaking, among other fields.
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