Sonya Pritzker

Thinking hearts, feeling brains: Metaphor, culture, and the self in Chinese narratives of depression

This paper explores the heart and brain metaphors used in the meaning-making efforts of Chinese individuals diagnosed with depression. Past studies assert that the origin of Chinese language metaphors for thinking and feeling can be found in traditional Chinese medico-philosophical theory, where the heart is viewed as the seat of thought and emotion, and the brain, which constitutes the cognitive center in western theories of the self, is secondary. While most participants employed heart metaphors to express thinking and feeling, many of the participants also employed brain metaphors. Instead of suggesting that this multiplicity implies westernization, this paper argues that cultural understandings of the self can be multiple. To appreciate this, it is necessary to look at spontaneously generated speech in a narrative context. This paper thus analyzes three participant narratives, a process that carries several implications for studies approaching the relationship between metaphor, culture, and the self.

The role of metaphor in culture, consciousness, and medicine: a preliminary inquiry into the metaphors of depression in chinese and western medical and common languages

Abstract Part I examines the modern theory of metaphor against the background of progress made in the understanding of consciousness, language, and cognition. The role of metaphor in the construction of medical systems in China and the West is then discussed. An inquiry into the metaphors used in the expression of emotion in English and Chinese follows. Part II of the article will focus on the metaphors of depression in Chinese and English common languages, and the metaphorical implications of the respective medical heritages in each of these. The possibility is that the sharing of medical metaphors cross-culturally has broad implications for the deeper understanding of human dysfunction it suggested. It is also demonstrated that anyone reaching across cultures to treat Westerners with Chinese medicine, or Chinese with Western psychology/biomedicine, can benefit greatly by learning more about the basic structure of conceptual metaphors in each system. It is shown that this exercise allows for greater sensitivity to patients, more flexible treatment strategy, and better communication.

Living translation in US Chinese medicine

This article demonstrates the ongoing, culturally situated and co-constructed nature of the translation of Chinese medicine from Chinese into English. Building upon scholarship in anthropology, sociolinguistics, and translation studies, this article contributes to the building of an anthropologically grounded theory of translation as an ongoing lived event, with implications far beyond the simple transfer of meaning from “source” to “target” languages. Through the examination of video and audio data collected over two years, I show how participants in classroom interactions at a southern California school of Chinese medicine not only interactively accomplish the work of translating specific Chinese terms, but also accomplish a great deal socially with such translation activity. Participants are thus shown to use translation as a platform for social positioning as well as a tool for socializing interlocutors into various notions of evidence and ideologies of language, both of which have implications for clinical decision-making in practice. (Translation, language ideologies, classroom interaction, Chinese medicine) *

Building an Evidence-Base for TCM and Integrative East-West Medicine: A Review of Recent Developments in Innovative Research Design.

There are many challenges to developing an evidence base for Traditional Chinese Medicine and Integrative East-West Medicine. This article offers a review of these challenges alongside an introduction and review of several innovations in healthcare research that have successfully been applied to the study of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Integrative Medicine. Such innovations include developments in Whole Systems Research, Comparative Effectiveness Research, Health Services Research, and qualitative Social Sciences Research. Each of these approaches expands upon conventional approaches to clinical research and can also be combined with clinical trial data to yield a mixed-methods approach. We conclude with a commentary on the necessity for such mixed methods studies in the continued establishment of an evidence base for TCM and IM.

Standardization and Its Discontents: Translation, Tension, and the Life of Language in Contemporary Chinese Medicine

Various attempts at language standardization have been central in efforts to integrate Chinese medicine into a global, mainstream medical framework. At the same time, language has also proven critical in efforts to integrate Chinese medicine into personal frameworks of meaning as students around the globe grapple with multiple translations. In an effort to convey some of these diverse experiences of standardization and plurality of translations, this article offers four “snapshots” in the life of language standardization in Chinese medicine. These snapshots are derived from extensive, multisited ethnographic research conducted over four years in diverse settings in both China and the United States. The article thus offers an appreciation of standardization as an ongoing series of human encounters, a complex web of human networks shaping the always changing answers to seemingly simple questions about the motivations behind standardization, the methods used to create standards, and the implications of standards in an increasingly “global” Chinese medicine. As such, it contributes to an emerging “anthropology of translation” that underscores the role of human relationships, power, understanding, and interaction in translation.

Factors Affecting Definitions of and Approaches to Integrative Medicine: A Mixed Methods Study Examining China's Integrative Medicine Development

Aim. This study identifies existing definitions and approaches among Chinas integrative medicine (IM) experts and examines relationships with key characteristics distinguishing individual experts. Methods. Snowball sampling was used to select 73 IM experts for semistructured interviews. In this mixed methods study, we first identified definitions and approaches through analyzing core statements. Four key factors, including age, education, practice type, and working environment, were then chosen to evaluate the associations with the definitions. Results. Four unique definitions were identified, including IM as a “new medicine” (D1), as a combination of western medicine (WM) and Chinese medicine (CM) (D2), as a modernization of CM (D3), and as a westernization of CM (D4). D4 was mostly supported by those working in WM organizations, while D3 was more prominent from individuals working in CM organizations (P = 0.00004). More than 64% clinicians had D2 while only 1 (5.9%) nonclinician had D2. Only 1 clinician (1.8%) had D4 while almost 30% nonclinicians had D4 (P = 0.0001). Among nonclinicians working in WM organizations, 83.3% of them had D4 (P = 0.001). Conclusion. Findings indicate that institutional structure and practice type are factors affecting IM approaches. These results carry implications for the ways in which western countries move forward with the definition and implementation of IM.

Introducing Considerations in the Translation of Chinese Medicine

This article introduces the document, Considerations in the Translation of Chinese Medicine, published in PDF form online in both Chinese and English. This 20-page document includes several sections describing why the Considerations is necessary, the specificity of texts in Chinese medicine; the history of translation in Chinese medicine; who constitutes an ideal translator of Chinese medicine; what types of language exist in Chinese medicine; and specific issues in the translation of Chinese medicine, such as domestication versus foreignization, technical terminology, period-specific language, style, polysemy, and etymological translation. The final section offers a brief advisory for consumers, and concludes with a call to further discussion, and action, specifically in the development of international collaborative efforts towards the creation of more rigorous guidelines for the translation of Chinese medicine. The current article provides an overview of several of these sections, and includes links to the original document.

“We (Tong) Chinese”: Contemporary identity positioning through health management among Cantonese Chinese Americans

ABSTRACT This paper explores discursive ways Chinese American older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) take ownership of their health management. Fifteen patient stakeholders with T2DM took part in four focus group interviews. We used qualitiative discourse analysis to examine how participants used the phrase, “We (Tong) Chinese,” and variants, to index models of Chinese-living-in-the-U.S. personhoods, to incorporate “Chinese” and “western” ways of doing health management, to be Chinese American, and to interact with medical practitioners. We show how terms like “Tong” distinguish transnational boundaries and position participants in claiming “Chinese-in-America-ness” in relevant ways. Findings have implications for healthcare providers, health education, and intercultural communication.