The Arthur L. Basham Medals, 2017
The award ceremony took place in Kiel, Germany, on 11 August 2017. It was awarded to Dr. Shizu SAKAI (Emeritus Professor of Medical History at Juntendo University) and Dr. Judith Farquhar (Max Palevsky Professor of Anthropology Emerita and of Social Sciences in the College, Faculty Director of the University of Chicago Center in Beijing).
Charles Leslie Junior Scholar Essay Award, 2016
Di Lu, PhD Candidate, China Center for Health and Humanity, UCL (Advisor Professor Vivienne Lo): “Transnational Circulation of the Knowledge of the Caterpillar Fungus to the Early 20th Century”
This is a fine study of the transnational networks that collaborated in creating knowledge of the caterpillar fungus (Cordyceps sinensis). It relies on extensive primary sources in Chinese, Tibetan, and several European languages as well as a strong conceptual framing using Harold Cook’s arguments about how intertwined global trade was with developments in natural knowledge and science in the early modern period.
Honorable Mention: Mathias Vigouroux, Lecturer, Zhejiang University, School of International Studies: “Shaping New Identities: the Development of Early Modern Japanese Medicine as a Profession”
The first discussion of the topic in a western language, this essay uses extensive primary sources on how Japanese elite physicians in the Edo period (1603-1868) legitimized themselves vis-a-vis their competitors and relates this to broader arguments concerning the medical profession and professionalization in the early modern period.