AHA Session 17
Friday, January 3, 2025: 1:30 PM-3:00 PM
Nassau East (New York Hilton, Second Floor)
Chair:
Sarah Rivkin, Park Slope Acupuncture
Papers:
Session Abstract
This panel contributes to the global history of bodily representation through the study of anatomy from the thirteenth to the twentieth century. Existing works have explored anatomy and how the study of the body has been shaped by colonial power or nationalist power. Beyond this colonial/national binary, the body is folded into the history of vernacular sciences, drawing upon local or regional archives. We propose to go beyond colonial/nationalist or vernacular studies by studying the body in the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia, a collaborative effort that goes beyond geographical and conceptual silos. Yasemin Akçagüner examines who could reproduce anatomical images in 19th-century Istanbul, focusing especially on the role of Ottoman Armenian engravers and printmakers. Sohini Chattopadhyay explores the contested ownership over a woman's body for dissection in 20th-century Bombay, arguing that an anatomical subject that was to represent India was, first and foremost, the production of the colonial state’s engagements with labor politics. Lan Li offers a close reading of a 13th-century text representing meridians to understand the relationship between graphic genres and translation. These papers foreground medicine and the body as sites of translation, where diverse epistemologies and social worlds intersect.
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