Academic interests
My academic research focuses on the development of psychological theories in Chinese medical history. My PhD project analyses how emotional suffering was understood and dealt with by the Southern Song physician Chen Wuze 陳無擇 (陳言) in his monograph A Unified Treatise on Diseases, Patterns, and Recipes According to the Three Causes (三因極一病證方論). Besides analysing his treatise, the study also traces the various historical sources and influences behind Chen’s ideas, and the impact his doctrines of the ‘Seven Affect’ (七情) and ‘Three Causes’ (三因) had on the further development and significance of psychological theories in Chinese medicine. The title of my dissertation is:
‘Remapping the Emotional Landscape in Late Song: Therapeutic Strategies for Visceral Psychosomatics in Chen Wuze’s Seven Affects Doctrine’.
My PhD study is connected to Prof Halvor Eifring’s larger project ‘Two Thousand Years of Mind Wandering’, which focuses on the cultural history of spontaneous thoughts and emotions in contemplative traditions.
My main academic interests are East Asian medical traditions, Chinese medicine, Chinese medical psychology, East Asian philosophy, History of Emotion, Affect theory, Mind-Body relationship, Philosophy of mind, Meditative and Contemplative traditions.
Courses taught
- Chinese Classics at the Northern College of Acupuncture MSc program in Advanced Oriental Medicine, Research and Practice.
Background
I have a bachelor’s degree in Chinese studies and a MPhil in East Asian Culture and History, both from IKOS, UiO. My Master thesis analysed the renowned Ming dynasty physician Zhang Jingyue’s elaborations on the ‘Five Spirits’ (wu shen 五神) conceptual model of the mind. From earlier, I also have an education in medical subjects and have worked as an acupuncturist and teacher of East Asian medicine since 1998. Currently, I teach a module in Chinese Classics at a MSc program in England.
Partners
In addition to scholars and colleagues at the University of Oslo, I collaborate with researchers and teaches at the Department of Health Sciences, Kristiania University College in Oslo, and at the Northern College of Acupuncture in York, UK.