414 History Series, From Ideals to Institutions—The Making of a Profession • Sibyl Coldham

In the early 80’s as acupuncture was emerging into the mainstream culture in the West, it developed differently in response to the established medical and educational systems already in place.

In the USA there was no national health service, while in the UK, that was a pillar of the socio-political landscape. 

Sybil Coldham was not a practitioner of acupuncture, instead she was involved with the education of acupuncturists and found herself in the center of cultural and political forces that had and have, an influence on the profession. She's the focus of a documentary that was discussed in episode 363 Acupuncture’s  Journey to the West. 

Listen into this discussion about building standards from scratch, pushing back against guru culture, the politics of legitimacy, how Chinese medicine has both struggled with and resisted being absorbed by mainstream systems.