Research: Lexicological and Philological Perspectives of the Introduction of Psychiatry in Late Imperial China and the Contribution of Protestant Missionaries (Provisional)
Curriculum East Asia
ABSTRACT:
This research analyses the introduction of modern psychiatry in late Qing China from a lexicological and philological perspective, highlighting the role of Protestant missionaries in shaping the Chinese medical lexicon. It focuses on John Glasgow Kerr (1824–1901), the only missionary doctor to systematically address mental illness and founder of the Refuge for the Insane, China’s first lunatic asylum, opened in Canton in 1898. Based largely on archival and primary sources, the study examines psychiatry’s role in Sino-Western scientific and linguistic exchanges, investigating its linguistic and cultural challenges.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Protestant missionaries; late imperial China; psychiatry; history of medicine; lexicology; medical lexicon.
CURRICULUM VITAE:
11/2024-today: PhD student at the Istituto Italiano di Studi Orientali (ISO) at the Sapienza University of Rome.
12/2016-03/2020: Master's degree in Oriental Language and Culture at the Sapienza University of Rome. Thesis title: The Astronomical Calculation of Eclipses in the "Jiaoshi Lizhi" by Adam Schall von Bell. Supervisor: Elisabetta Corsi. Co-supervisor: Nunzio Allocca.
02/2018-05/2018: Mobility Extra-EU Scholarship for master's degree students at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.
02/2016-05/2016: Mobility Extra-EU Scholarship for bachelor's degree students at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.
10/2013-12/2016: Bachelor's degree in Oriental Language and Culture at the Sapienza University of Rome. Thesis title: Translation Issues in the Italian Version of "Tuina" by Bi Feiyu. Supervisor: Federico Masini.