Translating Surgery and Alchemy Between Seventeenth-century Europe and Siam

TY - JOUR

T1 - Translating Surgery and Alchemy Between Seventeenth-century Europe and Siam

AU - Alberts, Tara Marie Alexandra

N1 - © 2022 History of Science Society. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details

PY - 2022/6/30

Y1 - 2022/6/30

N2 - René Charbonneau (1643–72) traveled to Siam (modern-day Thailand) in 1676 as a lay auxiliary to a band of French missionary priests. It was intended that he would practice his skills as a surgeon to treat missionaries and the indigent poor in the mission hospital established in Ayutthaya. An examination of the few letters that survive in his hand reveal fascinating insights into some of the treatments he used. Details emerge which suggest how far healers like Charbonneau were transformed as they moved into new contexts: how they were able to experiment with new techniques and cures, and how they were often required to reconceptualize their approaches for new audiences. This article explores Charbonneau’s life and career in seventeenth-century Ayutthaya to reassess the “foreign” healers in the history of Thai medicine, and to explore the methodological complexities of reconstructing the medical world of Ayutthaya.

AB - René Charbonneau (1643–72) traveled to Siam (modern-day Thailand) in 1676 as a lay auxiliary to a band of French missionary priests. It was intended that he would practice his skills as a surgeon to treat missionaries and the indigent poor in the mission hospital established in Ayutthaya. An examination of the few letters that survive in his hand reveal fascinating insights into some of the treatments he used. Details emerge which suggest how far healers like Charbonneau were transformed as they moved into new contexts: how they were able to experiment with new techniques and cures, and how they were often required to reconceptualize their approaches for new audiences. This article explores Charbonneau’s life and career in seventeenth-century Ayutthaya to reassess the “foreign” healers in the history of Thai medicine, and to explore the methodological complexities of reconstructing the medical world of Ayutthaya.

U2 - 10.1086/719229

DO - 10.1086/719229

M3 - Article

SN - 0369-7827

VL - 37

SP - 251

EP - 272

JO - Osiris

JF - Osiris

ER -