From 2002 to 2005 I worked on on the history of Tibetan medicine and its early encounters with the West.
I followed the dramatic story of the Badmayevs, a family of Tibetan physicians from Buryatia (Siberia). The Badmayevs brought Tibetan medicine to the West: to Saint Petersburg, Poland, Switzerland and the USA. They were border-dwellers who ventured to translate an Eastern Science into occidental thought and culture. Their story contains a remarkable perspective on Tibetan medicine: namely, not as an ancient healing practice, but as a dynamic body of knowledge. As the Badmayevs made their way to the West, they encountered mystically inclined aristocrats, revolutionary lamas, party members with health problems, two Polish presidents and Swiss authorities. An odyssey which spans four generations on a journey through the turmoils of the 20th century.
The documentary film Journeys with Tibetan Medicine (74 minutes, released 2005), together with a written essay, was accepted as my MA thesis at the University of Zurich. Journeys with Tibetan Medicine was shown at festivals and in Swiss movie halls. See www.anyma.ch/journeys for more information.
In addition, two peer-reviewed book chapters resulted from this research: