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“Pedagogy, Philology, and Procedural Medical Knowledge”
- Author(s):
- Anthony Cerulli (see profile)
- Date:
- 2021
- Group(s):
- Education and Pedagogy, Indology, Medical Humanities, Textual Scholarship
- Subject(s):
- Philology, India, South Asia, Area studies, Medicine, History, Medical anthropology
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- Ayurveda, Kerala studies, South Asian studies, History of medicine, Medical humanities, Textual studies
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/cjv8-cq48
- Abstract:
- This article probes the history of education and current pedagogical practices among Malayali physician-teachers, vaidya-gurus, of Ayurveda in central Kerala. Considering the sources vaidya-gurus cite as the bases of their teaching styles, especially a three-part method known as mukhāmukhaṃ (‘face-to-face’ instruction), I discuss the place, production, and practice of texts in the didactic arrangement of the ayurvedic gurukula, ‘teacher’s residence’. Unlike subject-specific textbook learning at ayurvedic colleges, where students attend lectures and take exams in subjects like anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, and so forth, mukhāmukhaṃ education entails a rigorous philological investigation of the Sanskrit medical classics and allied regional sources that, under the guidance and modelling of a vaidya-guru, empowers students to do things with the texts in their own clinical engagements with patients. During mukhāmukhaṃ training, the ayurvedic gurukula becomes a discursive space wherein formal rules concerning the interpretation and transmission of technical healing knowledge in texts are, by design, upended with improvisational inquiry and exploration, inter- and intratextual referencing, and an ongoing production of new texts to meet the healthcare needs of patients.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article Show details
- Pub. DOI:
- https://doi.org/10.1080/19472498.2021.2001201
- Publisher:
- Routledge
- Pub. Date:
- 07 December 2021
- Journal:
- South Asian History and Culture
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 2 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
- Share this:
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