• The Journal of Korean Medical History
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.9-18
• /
• 2013

This study examines the meaning of classical texts in contemporary society. Drawing on an anthropological investigation of Somun Hakhoe, an association of Korean medicine doctors in South Korea, and its foundational text "Somun Daeyo", the present study explores the interconnectedness of medical texts and medico-social practices in bringing medical tradition into the contemporary era. The themes that author Lee Kyu-joon emphasizes in "Somun Daeyo" are thoroughly embodied in Somun Hakhoe's medico-social practices, such as the study activities based on "Somun Daeyo"(in particular, on Somun Buseol, the five articles written by the author, attached to "Somun Daeyo"), the focus on Buyang theory(扶陽論), and the distinctive feature of composing formula. The ethnographic data collected about the group activities of Somun Hakhoe also demonstrate that the social relationship of the teacher and disciples plays an important role in bringing East Asian medicine into the present. This study articulates the significance of the interaction between the classical text and the medico-social practices around it. The dynamism taking place in the interaction points to the "living tradition" actively flowing rather than being static in the past. This study illustrates the close relationship between medical history and medical anthropology and encourages more studies of classical texts based on the intimate relationship between the two disciplines.