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Classification As Narrative: A Renewed Perspective On A Longstanding Topic In Ethnobiology, Denise M. Glover
Classification As Narrative: A Renewed Perspective On A Longstanding Topic In Ethnobiology, Denise M. Glover
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The present work offers a renewed perspective on natural-kind classification in the field of ethnobiology, one that focuses on analyzing higher-order classifications as a form of narrative. By examining changes in classification of materia medica in three main medical/pharmacological texts from three time periods of the Tibetan medicine tradition, we see an overarching shift in classification from a focus on medical efficacy to one on material substance and morphology, thus suggesting influence from pre-twenty-first century western, Linnaean science. The work then links this historical narrative to the complexities of classification of materia medica among contemporary doctors of Tibetan medicine in …