I wrote this piece in response to the changes that happen with respect to language and terms that we use to describe who we are and what we do. In the Roman Empire, the term Asian was bloodied by the spread of empire. Today, the term Oriental is in decline, and the states of California, Washington and New York have purged the term Oriental from their legal documents. What was once a term designed to avoid national centrism and equitable representation of medical practices from the East has now been framed in the West as a term associated with hegemony.
First published as an Op Ed in Acupuncture Today May, 2007, Vol. 08, Issue 05
There is currently much debate within the medical field about the proper naming of medical practices which have their roots in China. It has gone to such extremes that the California legislators officially changed the word Oriental to Asian However, in an effort to be politically correct, they may have missed the mark.
Asian
The words ‘Asian’ and ‘Oriental’ have similar roots. In ancient times, they referred to the direction of the rising sun. The term ‘Asian’ occurred in Greece as a descriptive for what is now Turkey some fourteen centuries before the Common Era. Further, ‘Asia’ may come from the Akkadian word (w)aṣû(m), which means "to go out" or "to ascend," referring to the direction of the sun at sunrise in the Middle East; it is also likely connected with the Phoenician word asa meaning east. For the Greeks and Romans, the term ‘Asian’ described those peoples whose power and territory were usurped in an imperialistic and hegemonic attempt to rule the world.
Oriental
The term ‘Oriental’ emerged during the post enlightenment era in connection with the European fascination with Eastern culture. The origins of the term ‘Orient’ c. 1300 originally referred to the East. By the time of the 19th century ‘Oriental’ was connected to the colonization of the Near-East and the East by France and England and later the United States. It was during this time frame that ‘Oriental’ was used to express European imperialism at the material, aesthetic and sociological levels. According to Edward Said, “Orientalism, a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based upon the Orient’s special place in European Western experience” (1978). Thus the post enlightenment and imperialistic world of England, France, and later the United States, used the term ‘Orientalism’ as a reference to character, style, trait, or idiom felt to be from the Orient.
1970’s Development
The histories of these two words pose an interesting quandary for the present day field of acupuncture and Oriental medicine (AOM). We now ‘fast forward’ to North America in the late 1970s. The Chinese, Korean and Japanese communities are developing a legal structure for their culturally distinct medical practices. The Japanese and Koreans adopted the term ‘Oriental Medicine’ in order to reflect their medical practices as distinct from the Chinese yet sharing a common foundation.
Under these circumstances, the term ‘Oriental Medicine’ developed into a brand identity. Regulatory agencies throughout the United States began using the term ‘Oriental’ as part of the language of legislature and incorporation. Several agencies adopted the term. These included the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM), the Federation of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Regulatory Agencies (FAOMRA), the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM), and the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AAAOM).
Currently, the term ‘Oriental Medicine’ is identified with the aggregate practices of acupuncture, herbal medicine, manual therapies, cupping, moxibustion bleeding, exercise therapies and dietary therapies. The field has matured in terms of its identity
We find some commonality for use of the terms ‘Oriental’ and ‘Asian,’ in post modern medical practices of North America. Both terms are rooted in an desire to fairly represent cultural practices from the Far East . The dominant cultures and countries that brought the practices of acupuncture and Oriental medicine to the West, notably, China, Japan and Korea seek to be identified fairly.
However, the identity of Asian medical practices tends to lack specificity due to the wide-ranging geographical, cultural and medical influences. Consider the following facts. The Thai, Vietnamese, as well as the sub-continental practices of the Unani Tibb, Ayurvedic and Buddhist medical disciplines have unique features of practice. But they have no licensing status or official regulatory recognition at this time. Further, the full plurality of medical beliefs and disciplines practiced throughout Asia involve more than 60% of the global population. It is also the earth’s largest continent with 29.4% of the land mass. It is necessary to create clear practice and geographically based description of the profession.
Chinese Traditional Medicine
Some linguistic authorities such as Heiner Fruehauf and Paul Unschuld recommend using the term ‘Chinese Traditional Medicine.’ Ideally this captures the heterogeneous body of practices that compose the history of practice. However, the use of this description poses nationalistic concerns for the Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese communities, not to mention the French, English, Dutch and Americans.
While these ethnographic and cultural concerns are debated, the American public has a small but growing awareness of what ‘Oriental Medicine’ entails. The western community is increasingly aware of acupuncture and that disciplined training is necessary for its successful practice. The phrase acupuncture and Oriental medicine captures this very well.
Oriental Medicine
The contemporary American use of the term ‘Oriental Medicine’ has a positive, specific and historical usage that emerged when the discipline was constructed into a professionally recognized in the US during the late 1970s. Generally speaking, the term is inclusive of the entire body of medical practices in which certified and licensed acupuncturists in the USA engage. It includes a plurality of national origins as well as methodologies. Therefore, my recommendation is to remain with the name ‘Oriental Medicine.’
[I no longer make this recommendation due to the changing legal and cultural climate involving the term Oriental.]
Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Random House.
