What is the major overhaul that the acupuncture profession is considering?
In the 1980s, as Chinese medicine was becoming professionalized in the United States, it underwent a telling rebranding, codified in the official nomenclature of the profession as “Oriental medicine.”1 While the word “Oriental” technically means “pertaining to the East,” it has other—and othering—connotations, exotifying this part of the world and perpetuating Western imperialist attitudes. It can also be a racial slur.
You might have noticed that, whenever we use the word “Oriental” elsewhere on our website, not by choice but because it is part of the official name of whatever we are referring to, we put an asterisk after it. This is why.
In the United States, the “O word” is included in the names of everything from Chinese medicine institutions to the profession’s state associations. If you pass the national board exam for Chinese herbs in addition to the three of these exams needed to become a Diplomate of Acupuncture (including one called Foundations of Oriental* Medicine), you become a Diplomate of Oriental* Medicine. And which organization oversees this process? None other than the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental* Medicine.
The silver lining? While this one word speaks volumes, replacing it would too.
Reference Cited
Phan T. American Chinese Medicine. Thesis. University College London; 2017.