TJ Hinrichs 
Assistant Professor
Office: 306 McGraw Hall
Phone: 607-254-1694
Fax: 607-255-0469
E-Mail: th289@cornell.edu
Office Hours: On Leave
Research and Teaching Interests
My teaching covers China’s history from its classical to its modern periods (“Medicine and Healing in China”), sometimes concentrating on the early and medieval periods (“The Daoist Tradition”) or the late imperial period (“Popular Culture in China,” “Society and Religion in China”), and sometimes looking at China and Japan in comparative perspective (“East Asian Martial Arts,” “East Asia to 1800” co-taught with Prof. Katsuya Hirano).
My research focuses on the Song period (960-1279 c.e.). I am currently exploring government policies and local elite activism — including the distribution of medicines and medical texts, the arrest and flogging of shamans, and the destruction of their shrines — against three areas of southern customs: “gu”-witchcraft, the avoidance of the sick for fear of contagion, and shamanism. I am exploring these activities in relation to the emergence of new bases for elite identity and official authority, particularly in relation to popular welfare and mores, medicine, and the changing roles of southern lands and peoples. I am also examining the political, moral, and bodily concerns that generated arguments against contagious views of illness.
Courses
| Fall 2009: | On Leave | |
|---|---|---|
| Spring 2010: | 4931 |
Vitality and Power in China |
Other Courses Taught at Cornell
East Asia to 1800: co-taught with Prof. Katsuya Hirano, introductory level survey course, (HIST/ASIAN 1900)
The Daoist Tradition: lecture course, (HIST 3531/ASIAN 3332/RELST 331)
Society and Religion in [Late Imperial] China: senior/graduate seminar
Education
Ph.D. Harvard University, 2003
A.M. Harvard University, 1988
A.B. Harvard College, 1984
Recent Publications and Awards
Books:
[Co-edited with Linda Barnes, Boston University School of Medicine, Chinese Medicine and Healing: An Illustrated History. Under contract to Harvard University Press. Anticipated publication in 2009.]
Articles:
["The Song Period," in Chinese Medicine and Healing: An Illustrated History (see above).]
["Controversies over Contagion in Song China." East Asian Sciences, Technology, and Medicine, Forthcoming.]
"Healing and Medicine in China." In The Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition. Vol. 6 Ed., Lindsay Jones. New York: Macmillan, 2004. Pp. 3859-3864.
"Gli aspetti sociali della produzione medica" (The social production of medical knowledge of [Song-Yuan (960-1368)]). In Storia della scienza. Ed. Sandro Petruccioli. Vol. II, Cina, India, Americhe. Ed. Karine Chemla, et. al. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 2001. Pp. 410-420.
"New Geographies of Chinese Medicine." Osiris, Beyond Joseph Needham: Science, Technology, and Medicine in East and Southeast Aisa. Ed. Morris F. Low. 2nd Series, (1998), 13:287-325. State of the field article.
Awards:
Faculty Fellowship, Society for the Humanities, Cornell University, 2009-2010.
Achilles Fang Prize (for outstanding doctoral dissertation in the Chinese humanities), Harvard University, 2003.
Links
Chinese Medicine and Science (Asaf Goldschmidt, Tel Aviv University) http://www.tau.ac.il/~gasaf/
Chinese Medicine Discussion List (TJ Hinrichs, for scholarship on the history and anthropology of Chinese medicine; for information or to join, email th289@cornell.edu)
Chinese Science and Medicine (Nathan Sivin, University of Pennsylvania) http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~nsivin/
East Asian Medicine (Volker Scheid, University of Westminster) http://www.volkerscheid.co.uk/
The Golden Elixir: Taoism and Chinese Alchemy http://www.stanford.edu/~pregadio/index.html
The History of Chinese Medicine Web Page (Yi-Li Wu, Albion College) http://www.albion.edu/history/chimed/
History of Medicine and Culture in China (Marta Hanson, The Johns Hopkins University) http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/martahanson/home/index.htm
International Association for the Study of Traditional Asian Medicine http://www.iastam.org/home.htm