|
People use every kind of language to communicate and express their
thoughts. Behind the language, there exists the philosophy of a culture, its values, knowledge, and of course imagination. In this respect, when using a word to describe or name something, we also simultaneously evoke our own comprehension of it at the same time. This process of naming also exists regarding disease. This point of view is presented in the book Illness as metaphor:AIDS and its metaphors by Susan Sontag. There are three diseases that she discusses in her book: cancer, tuberculosis, and AIDS. She uses a lot of evidence and conjectures to describe how people react and what they are referring to whenthey talk about these diseases.
However, the imaginations and metaphors won’t be consistent, they evolvewith the evolution of technology, knowledge, and society. For example, it was once assumed that consumption was caused by malnutrition, heredity, miasma, or exhaustion. On March 24, 1882, Robert Koch proclaimed that he had discovered the tubercle bacillus which causes tuberculosis. This discovery demolished the original thoughts about the causes and the designation usage of the disease. People used the word“tuberculosis” to replace“consumption” gradually. Compared with the disease “consumption” which belonged to the poor,“tuberculosis” hint that the rich had the same probability to affect the disease.Therefore, middle-class started to support the government’s healthy policies in order to keep themselves far from the tubercle bacillus. This situation also
impacted Japanese medical practices as they already accepted the Western medical concepts and translated tuberculosis as Feijiehe（肺結核）. They used this wording to demonstrate that the new concept of tuberculosis was different from the traditional ideas about this disease.
Japan’s government took over Taiwan in 1895; they brought Western
medicine including this new idea of bacterial tuberculosis（Feijiehe）and then used it to govern this island. Especially during 1934-1945, policies of preventing tuberculosis were carried out positively. Japanese used mandarin textbooks, ordinances and activities to transmit their conception of tuberculosis to Taiwanese. At that time, people who lived in Taiwan used to believe in Chinese medicine, ethno medicine and retained their traditional notion of consumption as Feilao（肺癆）. After they experienced the tuberculosis prevention policy, how did Taiwanese connect the conception of Feijiehe（tuberculosis）and Feilao（consumption）?That’s what will be concerned in this thesis.
Four the purpose, writer cites classical Chinese medicine books and
anthropological research of ethno medicine in Taiwan to discuss the Taiwanese conception of Feilao （ consumption ） in colonial period first. Then, the tuberculosis prevention ordinances, mandarin textbooks and Taiwan antituberculosis league are analyzed to show how and what Japanese expressed their conception. Last, writer performs and infers what effect people’s understanding between Feijiehe（tuberculosis） and Feilao（consumption）, according to the narrative of people who lived through the period of tuberculosis prevention. I hope that these discussions can appear the convergence of consumption and tuberculosis in colonial Taiwan which differs from other countries.
|