(Light guitar music)
Hello, my name is James Robson and I'm the
Victor and William Fung Director of the Harvard
Asia Center. I'd like to welcome you to the
Asia Center's Research Talk series, which
is part of a new series of virtual programming
at the Asia Center. The research talks are
aimed at showcasing some of the fascinating
research that is being done on various facets
of Asia by Harvard students, Graduate Students,
Faculty, Asia Center Affiliates, and other
specialists. We very much hope you enjoy learning
from these
talks.
(Light guitar music)
Imagine walking into a room and there’s
ten people sitting in a circle and they’re
chatting away about their days. And then you
notice it. These bright orange needles, five
of them to be exact, in each ear.
Now imagine that you are at a New Hampshire
opioid recovery center.
This happened to me a few years ago, and I
wondered, what was I looking at? I knew it
was some form of acupuncture – I was visiting
the recovery center to learn about the use
of acupuncture within the opioid crisis. But
I had a completely different idea of acupuncture
in mind. Chinese medicine, as I knew it, was
something deeply personal, and my grandmother,
who was a practitioner, could take up to hours
with one patient, personalizing the diagnoses
and treatment of acupuncture, herbal medicine,
or both.
Here, the practitioner put acupuncture needles
in the same five points in the ears for everyone.
A person could walk in, sit down, and get
the needles put in, no questions asked. I
was astounded. So I started talking to the
practitioner. And then she handed me a pamphlet,
entitled “The Radical History of Acupuncture,”
and that would change my life.
In the pamphlet was a history of the use of
acupuncture by the Black Panther Party and
the Young Lords, two revolutionary groups
in the civil rights era. Inspired by the barefoot
doctors in China, where lay people used Chinese
and Western medicine to serve under resourced
populations, these revolutionaries began using
ear acupuncture for addiction, stress, and
anxiety in the South Bronx in the 1970s. Later,
in 1985, the particular five-point treatment,
known as the National Auricular Detoxification
Association protocol or NADA protocol, for
short, was formalized.
But as I did my research, I also stumbled
upon the name Dr. Tolbert Small, who has no
connection to the NADA story. Instead, he
was based in Oakland, and was the Panther
Party physician from 1970-74 and had traveled
to China on a Black Panther Party delegation.
Inspired by the barefoot doctors he returned
home and soon used acupuncture for the past
fifty years alongside his general practice.
I emailed him and soon, I got a response.
I visited Dr. Small in Oakland, where he warmly
welcomed me and showed me all his stuff he
brought back from China, and he told me they’ve
just been sitting in his garage since 1972!
So since then, I have been helping him archive
his incredible materials.
I’ve also continued my travels to learned
more about the global transmission of the
NADA protocol and traveled to the United Kingdom
to trace how it’s been used for addiction
and in over 128 of the 150 prisons. The NADA
protocol has truly expanded all around the
world – in Finland, India, Mexico, South
Africa – and used by all different kinds of people,
physicians, recovery coaches, first responders,
prison staff, inmates, math teachers, electricians.
The list goes on and on. Much like acupuncture
itself, this social history of acupuncture
is full of unexpected connections.
Despite the differences in space and time,
one key aspect has been retained in the global
transmission of this kind of acupuncture.
They all put the patient first, and pursue
a kind of accessible care I call toolkit care,
inspired by the barefoot doctors and the spirit
of DIY, where practitioners put acupuncture
into their literal and metaphorical toolkits
they carried with them to serve and empower
patients in need. As one practitioner put
it, “it’s first aid! That’s it, it’s
first aid.” This practice of integrative
medicine is one that combines medical and
social practices – they use acupuncture
as a way to respond to a society’s ills,
and they see the medical and the social as
inherently bound together.
Where I once was driven to understand broader
ideas around Chinese medicine, I have come
to understand that in learning more about
medicine, I have ultimately learned more about
people. It’s been an honor to meet and get
to know inspiring people whose histories are
so rich, and I hope you’ll join me on this
journey.
(Light guitar)
