Thisgroundbreakingvolumecapturesandanalyzestheexhilaratingandattimesdisorientingexperiencewhenscientists,governmentofficials,educators,andthegeneralpublicinEastAsiatriedtocometotermswiththeintroductionofWesternbiologicalandmedicalsciencestotheregion.Thenexusofgenderandhealthisacompellingtheme,forthisisanareainwhichprivatelivesandpersonalcharacteristicsencountertheinterventionsofpublicpolicies.Thenineempiricallybasedstudiesbyscholarsofhistoryofmedicine,sociology,anthropology,andSTS(science,technology,andsociety),spanningJapan,Korea,China,Taiwan,andHongKongfromthe1870stothepresent,demonstratejusthowtightlyconcernswithgenderandhealthhavebeenwovenintotheenterpriseofmodernizationandnation-buildingthroughoutthelongtwentiethcentury.
Theconceptsof“gender”and“health”havebecomesocommonlyusedthatonemightoverlookthattheyareactuallycomplicatednotionswithvexedhistoriesevenintheirnativecontexts.Transposingsuchterminologiesintoanotherhistoricalorgeographicaldimensionisfraughtwithproblems,andwhatmakestheEastAsiancasesinthisvolumeparticularlyilluminatingisthattheypresentconceptsofgenderandhealthinmotion.Thestudiesshowhowindividualsandsocietiesmadesenseofmodernscientificdiscoursesondiseases,body,sex,andreproduction,redefiningexistingtermsintheprocessandadoptingnovelideastofacenewchallengesanddemands.
SCIENCE anthropology SEX educators TECHNOLOGY HEALTH ASIA Taiwan China body Korea HISTORY
