Presented By: Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies
LRCCS Noon Lecture Series. Nutritional Imperialism: How Science Turned Difference into Sickness in China
Hilary Smith, Associate Professor of History, University of Denver

In this talk, Dr. Smith will argue that starting in the early twentieth century, the acolytes of a new discipline called nutrition science began to research Chinese bodies and diets in ways that made them appear to be inherently deficient and even pathological. Seeking to explain the unequal power relations that underlay the imperialist world order, both foreign and some Chinese scientists blamed the Chinese nation’s political weakness and poor health on bad food choices. Although the age of formal empires is past, the traces of what she calls nutritional imperialism persist.
Hilary A. Smith is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Denver. She writes about the history of science and medicine in China. She is the author of Forgotten Disease: Illnesses Transformed in Chinese Medicine (Stanford, 2017) and is currently finishing a book about nutritional imperialism. She has received a Fulbright US Scholar Grant as well as support from the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation, and other awards.
Hilary A. Smith is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Denver. She writes about the history of science and medicine in China. She is the author of Forgotten Disease: Illnesses Transformed in Chinese Medicine (Stanford, 2017) and is currently finishing a book about nutritional imperialism. She has received a Fulbright US Scholar Grant as well as support from the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation, and other awards.
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