Colin Millard
Biographical note
Colin studied social anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, receiving his MA in 1993 and his PhD in 2002 for a dissertation on 'Learning processes in a Tibetan medical school'. This was based on his fieldwork at a Tibetan Bonpo Medical School situated in the valley of Dhorpatan in west Nepal. He has subsequently taught anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, and also worked as a Clinical Facilitator in the Clinics of Tibetan Medicine organized by the Tara Rokpa organization in Edinburgh and as Part Time Support Worker for the Richmond Fellowship Scotland supporting people with mental health problems and learning difficulties. He is presently working as Research Associate at Cardiff University on the medical legacy of the Bon lama Khyungtrul Jigme Namkhai Dorje. In recent years he has carried out extensive fieldwork in Nepal, India and Tibet on Tibetan medicine, Bon medicine and the healing rituals of Bon nagpa householder priests.
Colin is currently Senior Lecturer in Global Health at the Blizard Institute (Queen Mary, University of London) and also has a web page there.
Research Interests
Colin's research interests range across medical anthropology, the anthropology of ritual and religion, Asian medicine, Tibetan medicine, Tibetan society and culture, Bon religion and culture, ethnobotany, education and learning processes, the anthropology of the body, modes of knowledge, globalisation, the impact of modernity on traditional medical systems, professionalization, ethnicity and identity, Himalayan society and culture, anthropological approaches to disability, learning disabilities and mental illness.
Publications
Books
- Forthcoming. Learning Process in Tibetan Medicine: an Ethnographic Study of a Bon Medical School, under review with Routledge.
- Forthcoming. Perspectives on the History, Theory and Practice of Bon Medicine, Colin Millard and Geoffrey Samuel (eds) Vajra books, Kathmandu.
- Forthcoming. The Use of Ritual in Healing in the Buddhist and Bon Religions of Tibet, Colin Millard and Geoffrey Samuel (eds).
- Forthcoming. Illness Narratives in Tibetan Medicine.
Published Articles
- 2013. Bon Medical Practitioners in Contemporary Tibet: The Continuity of a
Tradition. East Asian Science, Technology and Society (2013) 7(3): 353-379. (Special Issue , 'Contemporary Issues in the Anthropology of Tibetan Medicine,' edited by Geoffrey Samuel and Colin Millard.)
- 2013.(with Lobsang Dhonden Soktsang). Diversity in Unity: The Changing Forms of Tibetan Medicine. East Asian Science, Technology and Society (2013) 7(3): 467-486 (Special Issue , 'Contemporary Issues in the Anthropology of Tibetan Medicine,' edited by Geoffrey Samuel and Colin Millard.)
- 2013. (with Tsewang Smanla) The Preservation and Development of Amchi Medicine in Ladakh. East Asian Science, Technology and Society (2013) 7(3): 487-504 (Special Issue , 'Contemporary Issues in the Anthropology of Tibetan Medicine,' edited by Geoffrey Samuel and Colin Millard.)
- 2010. Illness Narratives and Idioms of Meaning in Two Tibetan Medical Clinics. In Medicine, Health, and Modernity: Proceedings from the XIth International Association of Tibetan Studies Meetings. M. Schrempf, S. Craig, F. Garrett, and M. Tshomo, (eds.) Bonn: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, Contributions to Research on Central Asia Series.
- 2010. The Life and Medical Legacy of Khyung sprul 'Jig med nam-mkha'i rdo rje (1897-1955) D. Ross, S. Karmay, (eds) East and West (special edition, New Horizons in Bon Studies vol 2). IsIAO, Rome.
- 2008. The Integration of Tibetan Medicine in the UK: the Clinics of the Tara Institute of Tibetan Medicine. In Tibetan Medicine in the Contemporary World: Global Politics of Medical Knowledge and Practice (ed. L. Pordié), pp.189-214. London, New York: Routledge
- 2007. Tibetan Medicine and the Classification and Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders. In Soundings in Tibetan Medicine: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives, Proceedings of the 10th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies 2003 (ed. Mona Schrempf), pp.247-283. Leiden: Brill.
- 2006. sMan and Glud: Standard Tibetan Medicine and Ritual Medicine in a Bon Medical School in Nepal. In The Tibet Journal, Special Edition on Tibetan Medicine (guest eds.) A. Boesi and F. Cardi. Winter & Spring Vol XXX, No 4 & Vol XXX1 No 1 Dharamsala: LTWA.
- 2002. Democracy and Dissent in Nepal: an Overview with Some Perceptions from the Valley of Dhorpatan, in D. N. Gellner (ed.) Resistance and the State in Nepal. New Delhi: Social Science Press. (New edition 2006 from Berghahn, Oxford and New York)
Journal Special Issue
- 2013. Special Issue of East Asian Science, Technology and Society (EASTS), 'Contemporary Issues in the Anthropology of Tibetan Medicine,' joint-edited with Geoffrey Samuel. Volume 7 no 3, 2013.
Forthcoming/In Process
- The Role of Memorisation in Tibetan medical education.
- Rinchen Rilbu in the Bon Medical Tradition, co-authored with Geoffrey Samuel, forthcoming in Perspectives on the History, Theory and Practice of Bon Medicine, Colin Millard and Geoffrey Samuel (eds) Vajra books, Kathmandu
- Introduction: The Bon Medical Tradition of Tibet, co-authored with Geoffrey Samuel, forthcoming in Perspectives on the History, Theory and Practice of Bon Medicine, Colin Millard and Geoffrey Samuel (eds) Vajra books, Kathmandu.
- Urine Diagnosis of Spirit Caused Sickness in the Bon medical Tradition, forthcoming in Perspectives on the History, Theory and Practice of Bon Medicine, Colin Millard and Geoffrey Samuel (eds) Vajra books, Kathmandu.
- A Bon Ritual Performed in Mustang for Curing Sickness Caused by the bdud Class of Spirits. Forthcoming in The Use of Ritual in Healing in the Buddhist and Bon Religions of Tibet, Colin Millard and Geoffrey Samuel (eds)
- The Diagnosis and Treatment of Poisons in the Bon medical commentary the Khyungtrul Menpe.
- Notions of 'infectious' Disease in Tibetan Medicine.
- Between Science, Bon and Buddhist: Multiple Values in Contemporary Tibetan Medical Education.
- 'Humoural' Disease in Tibetan Medicine.
- Extracts from the Bon lama Khyungtrul Jigme Namkhai Dorje's biography and medical text on spirit caused sickness.
Page revised 4 April 20141
by Geoffrey Samuel.