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https://www.westminster.ac.uk/eastmedicine/people/affiliated-researchers/dr-mona-schrempf
https://www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de/de/zentralasien_alt/staff/dr.-mona-schrempf
https://independent.academia.edu/MonaSchrempf
Mona Schrempf studied social and cultural anthropology (South and Central Asia), history of Indian art, and ancient American cultures and societies at the Free University of Berlin (MA 1991). She wrote her PhD in social and cultural anthropology on ritual masked dances as a form of cultural and religious revival of a Tibetan Bonpo community in the Sino-Tibetan borderland of Amdo/Sichuan province, PR China (Dr.phil. 2001). Since 1995 she undertakes ethnographic fieldwork in Tibetan communities in China (Tibet, Sichuan und Qinghai provinces) and in the Himalayas (India, Bhutan). Her post doctoral research focuses on Tibetan medical practice, ritual healing and public health within social transformations in Asia und since 2012 also in Europe. This concers specifically the transmission and practice of present Tibetan medicine in physician lineages in Tibet (TAR, Schrempf 2007), medical pluralism between ritual healing, Tibetan medicine and public health (Schrempf 2010), family planning among Tibetan women in Qinghai province (Schrempf 2008, 2012). Her latter research was conducted within the framework of the SFB 640 ‘Representations of Social Order and Change’, at the Central Asian Seminar, Humboldt University Berlin (2004-8). Her present research project concerns the globalization of Tibetan medicine in China and Europe in the framework of the Wellcome Trust funded research project ‘Beyond Tradition: Ways of Knowing and Styles of Practice in East Asian Medicines 1000 to the Present’, located at the EASTmedicine Research Centre, Complementary Medicine, School of Science and Technology, University of Westminster, London (2012-2015). Since Octobre 2012 she is senior co-editor of the peer-reviewed journal Asian Medicine – Tradition and Modernity (www.brill.nl/asian-medicine). Since about a decade, she has been organizing international conferences and panels on Tibetan and Asian medicine (IATS, International Association for Tibetan Studies – Oxford 2003, Bonn 2006; Central Asian Seminar, Humboldt University Berlin 2005, 2013; ICTAM VIII, International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine 2013) with respective publications.
Research Interest
Medicine, religion and science; Tibetan medicine and social transformations; medical identities among physicians and patients; family planning, new biotechnologies and public health in Tibetan minority areas of China; local healing traditions and medical pluralism in China and the Himalayas
Research Areas
Himalaya (India: Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh; Bhutan); China (Tibet TAR, Sichuan and Qinghai Provinces/ Amdo); Europe (UK, Switzerland, Germany)
Publications
Books and Editorials/Edited Volumes
(in Vorbereitung) 2017. Transnational Tibetan Medicine – Formula Regimes, Therapeutic Networks and Styles of Practice between China and Europe (Monographie, voraussichtl. Berghahn Publishers, New Series ‘Beyond Tradition: Medicine in History and Culture’).
(im Druck) 2015. (mit Lena Springer) (Hrsg.) Efficacy and Safety in Tibetan and Chinese Medicine: Historical and Ethnographic Perspectives (Sonderausgabe), Asian Medicine – Tradition and Modernity 10 (1+2).
2015. (mit Nicola Schneider) (Hrsg.) Women as Visionaries, Healers and Agents of Social Transformation in the Himalayas, Tibet, and Mongolia, Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines no. 34 (Sonderausgabe), Décembre 2015. Paris: CNRS. 217 pages; ISSN 1768‐2959 (open access, online).
Since 10/2012. Senior co-editor of the academic peer-reviewed journal ‘Asian Medicine – Tradition and Modernity’. Leiden: Brill Publishers (www.brill.nl/asian-medicine).
2010. (2013. Neue edition) (with Vincanne Adams and Sienna Craig (eds.)) ‘Medicine Between Science and Religion – Explorations on Tibetan Grounds’. (Epistemologies of Healing, Vol. 10) London and New York: Berghahn Publishers, 324 Pages, 11 Ills., Bibliog., Index. ISBN 978-1-84545-758-7.
2010. (with Sienna Craig, Mingji Cuomu and Frances Garrett (eds.)) ‘Studies of Medical Pluralism in Tibetan History and Society’ (Proceedings of the 11th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Bonn 2006). Andiast: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies GmbH (IITBS), 470 Seiten. ISBN 9783882800876.
2008. (with Vincent Houben (eds.)) ‘Figurations of Modernity – Global and Local Representations in Comparative Perspective’ (SFB 640 publication series ‘Eigene und Fremde Welten’). Frankfurt a.M.: Campus Verlag, 198 Pages. ISBN 3593386828, 9783593386829.
2007. (ed.) ‘Soundings in Tibetan Medicine. Historical and Anthropological Perspectives’ (Proceedings of the 10th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (PIATS), Oxford 2003). Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 449 Pages. ISBN 9004155503, 9789004155503.
Journal Articles (peer-reviewed)
(in print) 2015. (mit Lena Springer) ’Introduction’. In M. Schrempf und L. Springer (Hrsg.), Efficacy and Safety in Tibetan and Chinese Medicine: Historical and Ethnographic Perspectives (special issue), Asian Medicine – Tradition and Modernity 10 (1+2), 12 S.
(in print) 2015. ’Formulation Regimes and Styles of Practice in Transnational Tibetan Medicine – a Comparative Perspective on Efficacy and Safety between China and Europe’. In M. Schrempf und L. Springer (Hrsg.), Producing Efficacy and Safety in Tibetan and Chinese Medicine: Historical and Ethnographic Perspectives (special issue), Asian Medicine – Tradition and Modernity 10 (1+2), 35 S.
2015. ’Becoming a Female Ritual Healer in East Bhutan’. In M. Schrempf und N. Schneider (Hrsg.), Women as Visionaries, Healers and Agents of Social Transformation in the Himalayas, Tibet, and and Mongolia (special issue), Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines 34 (Décembre 2015), 189-213.
2015. (mit Nicola Schneider) ’Editorial—Female Specialists between Autonomy and Ambivalence’. In M. Schrempf and N. Schneider (Hrsg.), Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines (special issue), no. 34, Décembre 2015, i-viii.
2011. ’Re-Production at Stake – Experiences of Fertility, Family Planning and Reproductive Health among Amdo Tibetan Women’. In: Fjeld, H. and R. Hofer (eds.): Women and Gender in Tibetan Medicine (special issue). Asian Medicine – Tradition and Modernity 6 (2): 314-339.
Chapters in Edited Books
2015 ‘Fighting illness with Gesar – a healing ritual from eastern Bhutan’, in
Charles Ramble und Ulrike Rösler (Hrsg.), Tibetan and Himalayan Healing – Anthology of Tibetan and Himalayan Healing, Oriental Studies Institute, Oxford University, 621-630.
2015 ‘Spider, soul and healing in eastern Bhutan’, Hanna Havnevik und Charles Ramble (Hrsg.), From Bhakti to Bon. Festschrift for Per Kværne, The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture, Oslo, 481-497.
2012 (with C. Witt, S. Craig, B. Graz, M. Heinrich, H. Schwabl) ‘Research on Tibetan Medicine—Where Do We Stand and Where Should We Go? ’, in C. Witt, S. Craig and M. Cuomu (Hrsg.), Tibetan Medicine Research: From Current Evidence to Future Strategies: Advice from an Interdisciplinary Conference, Essen: KVC Verlag, Karl und Veronika Carstens Stiftung, 35-48.
2010. (with Vincanne Adams and Sienna Craig) ‘Introduction: Medicine in Translation between Science and Religion’. In: Adams, V.; Schrempf, M. and S. Craig (eds.): Medicine Between Science and Religion – Explorations on Tibetan Grounds. pp.1-32. London and New York: Berghahn Publications.
2010. ‘Between Mantra and Syringe: Healing and Health Seeking Behavior in Contemporary Amdo’. In: Adams, V.; Schrempf, M. and S. Craig (eds.): Medicine Between Science and Religion – Explorations on Tibetan Grounds. pp. 157-184. London and New York: Berghahn Publications.
2010. (with Sienna Craig, Mingji Cuomu and Frances Garrett) ‘Introduction’. In: Craig, S.; Cuomu, M.; Garrett, F. and M. Schrempf (eds.): Studies of Medical Pluralism in Tibetan History and Society. (Proceedings of the 11th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Bonn 2006). pp. 13-38. Andiast: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies GmbH.
2008. ‘Planning the Modern Tibetan Family’. In: Houben, V. and M. Schrempf (eds.): Figurations of Modernity – Global and Local Representations in Comparative Perspective. pp. 121-151.
2007. ‘Refocusing on Tibetan Medicine’. In: M. Schrempf (ed.): Soundings in Tibetan Medicine. Historical and Anthropological Perspectives (Proceedings of the 10th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (PIATS), Oxford 2003). pp. 1-8. Leiden, Brill Academic Publishers.
2007. ‘Lineage Doctors and the Transmission of Local Medical Knowledge and Practice in Nagchu’. In: M. Schrempf (ed.): Soundings in Tibetan Medicine. Historical and Anthropological Perspectives (Proceedings of the 10th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (PIATS), Oxford 2003). pp. 91-126. Leiden, Brill Academic Publishers.
2006. ‘The Study of the Globalisation of Traditional Asian Medicine’. Symposium of Education Forum for Asia 2005. pp. 245-247. Beijing.
Other
2016 ‘Review of Theresia Hofer (ed.): Bodies in Balance — The Art of Tibetan Medicine’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 79/1, 3 S.
2016 Tibetan Formulas in Interdisciplinary and Multilingual Perspectives – Translating ‘Wind’ Disorders and Stress in Tibetan Medicine (Workshop Report), AG Medical Anthropology Blog, http://www.medizinethnologie.net/tibetan-formulas-workshop/, 3 S. with photos.
2015 Conference Report, ‘Developing a multilingual and interdisciplinary digital knowledge base on Tibetan formulas’, IASTAM Newsletter 2015 (winter), IASTAM (www.iastam.org), 3 S.
2015. ‚Comment to ‘Co-Producing Efficacious Medicines: Collaborative Event Ethnography with Himalayan and Tibetan Sowa Rigpa Practitioners’, by Calum Blaikie, Sienna Craig, Barbara Gerke, and Theresia Hofer, Current Anthropology 57 (2, April 2015): 199-200.
2014. (with O. Czaja) Review of ‘The Inheritance of Change. Transmission and Practice of Tibetan Medicine in Ngamring’ by Theresia Hofer, Asian Medicine – Tradition and Modernity 8 (2): 515-518.
2013. Conference Report ‘Women as Visionaries, Healers and Poisoners – Autonomous Female Religious Specialists in Tibet, the Himalayas and Inner Asia“ (Central Asian Seminar, Humboldt University Berlin, May 3-5, 2013), in Bulletin Info, Zentrum für Transdisziplinäre Geschlechterstudien, Humboldt University Berlin (www.gender.hu-berlin.de).
2005. Conference Report on ‘Transcultural Interface and Local Applications of Asian and Western Medical Systems: transfer, integration and transformation between Asia and Europe’, IASTAM NEWSLETTER (International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine, The Wellcome Trust).
2004. (with Barbara Gerke) ‘Tibet. A Brief History of Tibetan Medicine. Bon Medicine’, The Wellcome Trust History of Medicine at UCL (http://asianmedcom.site.securepod.com/research/tibet/projects/page1.htm)
2004. ‘New Research on Tibetan Medicine’, 10th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS), Wolfson College, Oxford, Sept 6-12, 2003; IASTAM Newsletter, September 2004, pp. 5-7.
2003. (with Frances Garrett) ‘What is Bon Medicine? Analysing narratives of illness and healing in the history and practice of a lesser known Tibetan medical tradition’, IIAS Newsletter 30, March 2003, International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden, p. 29.
Papers and Guest Lectures
2016 – June 19-25, ‘Tibetan Medicine/ Sowa Rigpa as Intangible Cultural Heritage – developments and conundrums’, 14th Seminar of IATS (International Association for Tibetan Studies), Bergen, Norway.
2015. ‘Discussing Transnational Formula Regimes, Therapeutic Networks and Styles of Practice in Tibetan Medicine between China and Europe’, Annual Workshop Wellcome Trust Research Project ‘Beyond Tradition’, University of Westminster, London (Juli 27-31, 2015).
2015. (with Olaf Czaja) ‘Between Standard Substitution and Reformulation Regimes – Continuities and Changes in Values and Meanings of Substitution in Tibetan Medical Formulas in Past and at Present’, Panel Crossing Epistemological Landscapes: On the Global Circulation of Therapeutic Objects and Practices, ICHSEA, Paris (July 6-10, 2015).
2015. ‘Developing a Digital Knowledge Base on Tibetan Formulas Focusing on Eaglewood-Compounds and ‘Wind’ or Stress-Related Disorders’, Internationaler Workshop ‘Developing a digital knowledge base on Tibetan formulas with a focus on stress-related rlung or ‘wind’ disorders’, EASTmedicine, University of Westminster, London (workshop organised by Mona Schrempf, funded by BA/Small Leverhume research Grant/ IASTAM), (May 8-10, 2015).
2014. ‘Tibetan Medicine and Social Transformation’, Internationaler Workshop ‘Dynamics of Change – Agents, Mechanisms and Economics of Transformation in Amdo’, Zentralasien-Seminar, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
2014. ‘Mo Divination in Healing Rituals of Eastern Bhutan’, Internationale Konferenz ‘Divination and Prediction in Tibet and Mongolia: Past and Present’, IKGF, Universität Erlangen (Dec 02-03, 2014).
2014. ‘Transnational formula regimes in production and prescription styles of Tibetan medicines in and between China and Europe’ Berlin, Internationaler Workshop der AG Medical Anthropology ‘What to do with/in Global Health?’, Institut für Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie, Freie Universität Berlin (Nov 28-30, 2014).
2014. ‘Tibetan Medicine in Tibet Today’, Tibetische Medizinschule, Men-Tsee-Khang, Dharamsala, Indien (Nov. 07, 2014).
2014. ‘Efficacy and safety in prescription practices’, annual workshop of The Wellcome Trust ‘Beyond Tradition Project’, EASTmedicine, University of Westminster, London (Juli 27-30, 2014).
2014. (with Menpa Lama Dietschy) ‘The Arig family lineage of physicians’, Internationale Konferenz The Transmission of Tibetan Medicine: Spiritual Growth, Questions of Method and Contemporary Practice, Institut für Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie, Argo-EMR, University of Oxford (May 22, 2014).2013. ‘New medicines, old concepts? Shifting meanings of efficacy and safety of Tibetan Medicine(s) in Europe’, ICTAM VIII, Korea, International Conference for Traditional Asian Medicine (September 9-13, 2013).
2013. ‘Familienplanung, Gender und Identität: Soziale Transformationsprozesse in Tibetischen Gemeinschaften der Qinghai Provinz’, Institute of Sinology, University of Vienna (27.05.2013).
2013. ‘How Drolma Became a Jomo — the life story of a female ritual healer in East Bhutan’, international symposium ‘Women as Visionaries, Healers, and Poisoners – autonomous female religious specialists in the Himalayas’, Tibet, and Inner Asia, Central Asia Seminar, Humboldt University Berlin (04.05.2013).
2013. ‘Why Spirit Matters – Ritual Healing beyond “Medicine” and “Religion” in Bhutan’, international workshop ‘Religion inside Medicine. Epistemology, Law, and Everyday Experience and Practice’, Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, Free University Berlin (15.02.2013).
2013. ‘Networks and Ruptures in Circulating Herbal Tibetan Medicines in Europe’, Seminar Series ‘Circulation and Prescription of Medicines: World Regions Connected and Compared, EASTmedicine’ Research Centre, Complementary Medicine, School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster (11.02.2013).
2012. ‘Re-production at Stake: Family Planning, Gender, and Fertility in Tibetan Women’s Experiences in Rural China’, Department for Chinese Cultural Studies, University of Westminster, London (28.11.2012).
2012. ‘What Makes the Difference? Fertility, Birth Control, and Subjectivity among Tibetan women in China’s Family Planning’, Seminar Series ‘Reproduction and Differenciation’, University of Oxford, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (ISCA), and Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (26.11.2012).
2012. ‘Healing Cosmologies: Possession and Ritual Healing in Eastern Himalayas’, Minzu University China (MUC), Dept. for Tibetan Studies, Beijing (15.10.2012).
2012. ‘Spirit Matters in East Bhutan’, University of Oslo, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages (11.05.2012).
2012. ‘Medicine, Religion or Spirituality? Epistemologies and Practices of Tibetan Medicine in Tibet and the West’, Tibetan Medicine and Meditation Symposium, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA, (13-15.04.2012).
2012. ‘Spider and Soul – Spirit Matters in the Eastern Himalayas’, Medical Anthropology Seminar Series, University College London (09.02.2012).
2011. ‘Tibetan and Western Medicine’, India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi (01.10.2011).
2011. ‘Reconfigurations of Tibetan Healing Practices in Kinnaur and Western Tibet’, International Workshop Epistemological Effects of Development: The Case of Kinnaur (18.-20.07.2011), University of Heidelberg, International Science Forum Heidelberg.
2011. ‘Local Moral Worlds: Subjectivity and Experiences of State Birth Control among Rural Tibetan Women in China’, workshop with Prof. Arthur Kleinman, Harvard Medical School, Free University Berlin, Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology (29.07.2011).
2011. ‘Translation in Practice: Issues of Hygiene, Purity and Pollution in Tibetan Women’s Childbirth Experiences in China’, Graduate Student Alliance for Global Health (GSAGH), University of Toronto, Dalla Lana School for Public Health, Centre for International Health, Toronto, Canada.
2010. ‘Birth Control Technologies among Tibetan Women in China — Social and Religious Implications’, International workshop ‘Convergence and Collisions: Disease, Religion and Healing in Asia’, Centre for the Humanities and Medicine (CHM), University of Hong Kong, (25.-26.03.2010).
2010. Chair und Commentary, ‘Interdisciplinary Consensus Conference on Clinical Research on Tibetan Medicine’, Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité University Medicine Centre, Berlin (27.02.-28.02.2010).
2009. ‘Recontextualisation of Traditional Asian Medicines between China and Europe – a Research Agenda’; ‘Family Planning, Female Bodies and Gender in Tibetan Women’s Reproductive Health Experiences’, ‘Seventh International Congress on Traditional Asian Medicine’ (ICTAM VII), Bhutan (funded by DAAD and Dartmouth College, USA) (07.-11.09.09).
2009. ‘Is Tibetan Medicine as Practiced in Europe Still Authentic?’, ‘Do Traditional Asian Medicines loose their Authenticity when applied in Europe?’, Leitung Prof. Dr. William Sax, Research Area Health and Environment, Karl Jaspers Centre for Advanced Transcultural Studies, University of Heidelberg (14.05.2009).
2008. ‘Globalisation of Traditional Asian Medicine – methodological problems’, Monash Asia Institute, Monash University Melbourne, Australien (DFG-Vortragsreise) (21.08.2008).
2008. ‘Family Planning, Modernity and Tibetan Agency in Post-Mao China’, Department of Anthropology, Victoria University Wellington, Neuseeland (DFG-Vortragsreise) (16.07.2008).
2008. ‘Family Planning and Modernity among Tibetans in Amdo’, Religious Studies, Department for Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo (25.01.2008).
2007. ‘Tibetische Medizin und Religion’, Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (09.06.2007).
2007. ‘Fertility, Modernity and the Mother-Water-Spirit’, ‘Embodiment, Ritual, and the Sacred Landscape in the Context of Tibetan Healing’, Anthropology Research Group Oxford on Eastern Medicines and Religion AREMR, University of Oxford (17. 05.2007).
2007. ‘Zwischen Mantra und Spritze: Medizin in Tibet Heute’, Museum of Asian Art (SMPK Dahlem/ Berlin), exhibition ‘Tibet Öffnet seine Schatzkammern’ (08.03.2007).
2007. ‘Tibetische Medizin in China Heute zwischen Anwendungspraxis und Patientenperspektive’, Institute for Religious Studies, University Bern (23.01.2007).
Teaching
2013. ‘Principles and History of Tibetan Medicine’, ‘Recent Medical Anthropological research on Tibetan Medicine in Asia’, ‘Issues of Efficacy and Safety of Tibetan Medicines in Europe’, ‘Warming Cold Disorders in Tibetan Medicine’, Summer School, EASTmedicine Research Centre, Complementary Medicine, School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster London (20. + 27.07.2013).
2013. ‘Grundlagen der Tibetischen Medizin mit historischem Überblick’, ‘Tibetische und westliche Medizin im europäischen Kontext – Aspekte von Diagnose, Verschreibung und Anwendung’, Europe University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Institute for Transcultural Health Sciences (IntraG), Master study ‘Cultural Studies – Complementary Medicine’ (KWKM), Module 4a (January 2013).
2011. ‘Buddhism, Ritual and Performance’, ‘Tibetan Medicine and Healing Practices’, seminars taught at University of Toronto, Religious Studies Department, Canada as guest professor in the winter semester
2009/10. ‘Vorstellungen und Praktiken von Krankheit und Gesundheit in tibetischen Gesellschaften’, seminar taught at University Bern, Department for Religious Studies, autumn semester.
2006. ‘Tibetische and Westliche Medizin: Integration, Adaptation und Herausforderungen’ , Humboldt University Berlin, Central Asian Seminar, Institute for Asian- and African Studies.