6047 Silsby Hall
Hanover, NH 03755
Phone: 603-646-9356
Fax: 603-646-1140
sienna.r.craig at dartmouth.edu
I am a medical and cultural anthropologist whose research and teaching focuses on non-western medical systems, social studies of science, international development studies, and global health as well as professionalization, expertise, and modes of knowledge transmission. I also have an abiding interest in studies of ethnicity and identity, including experiences of diaspora and exile. Some of my work has focused on pastoral communities at moments of socio-economic change. I have conducted fieldwork in Nepal, India, and Tibet, as well as among Nepali and Tibetan communities living in the United States. I was born and raised in Santa Barbara, CA, and received my B.A. in Religious Studies from Brown University (1995) and my Ph.D. from Cornell University (2006).
I first traveled to Nepal in 1993, on an undergraduate study abroad program, and have been returning to this part of the world ever since. From 1995-96 I was a Fulbright scholar in Nepal. During this time, I pursued ethnographic fieldwork in ethnically Tibetan communities in northwestern Nepal, on the border with the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), China. This work centered on ethnoveterinary practices and human-animal interactions, with a specific focus on the role of the horse in local culture and economy, as well as in religious symbolism and ritual practice. The research I conducted at this time forms the basis of my forthcoming ethnographic memoir, Horses Like Lightning: A Story of Passage Through the Himalayas (Wisdom Publications, 2008).
In my dissertation, I explore the possibilities of defending and transforming a non-Western medico-social system - Tibetan medicine - in the face of many changes and challenges. In particular, I discuss the standardization, commoditization, and industrial production of Tibetan medicines and the application of biomedically-oriented clinical research methods to the evaluation of these medicines. This work also discusses the implications of these changes on Tibet's landscape and its people, illustrating some of the socio-economic, ethical, and epistemological challenges in transforming this 'traditional medicine' for mass markets and different types of patients. From 2002-2004, I collaborated on a multi-disciplinary research project based in Lhasa, Tibet, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NICHD) and the Gates Foundation. This project focused on maternal and child health, and has included the first randomized controlled clinical trial of a Tibetan medicine in the TAR.I am currently developing on a new research project that will be a multi-sited ethnographic investigation of clinical trials that have been conducted on Tibetan medicines in China, India, Europe and the United States. Since 2001, I have been conducting fieldwork and have been engaged in a number of collaborative, 'applied' research endeavors with practitioners of Tibetan medicine in Nepal. My next book project will focus on this research, particularly my work with the Himalayan Amchi Association, a Kathmandu-based NGO. I am also the co-founder of Drokpa (www.drokpa.org), a non-profit organization whose mission is to partner with pastoral communities in the Himalaya and Central Asia to implement grassroots development and catalyze social entrepreneurship. I also serve on the advisory board of OneHEART (www.onehearttibet), an organization dedicated to saving the lives of Tibetan women and children, one birth at a time.
