Fluent Bodies

"[A] fine example of contemporary research located within a post-modern framework." - Farah M. Shroff , Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology

"[A] rich and provocative study. . . ." - Murphy Halliburton , Medical Anthropology Quarterly

"[I]lluminating. . . . [Langford's] accessible examination of the neo-orientalism with which modern Ayurveda and the development of its terminology is constructed will be of importance to scholars (and students) of a variety of disciplines." - Frederick M. Smith , Religious Studies Review

"This is an important book. Jean M. Langford provides an insightful description of how different ayurvedic traditions developed and coexisted in both colonial and independent India. . . . The author's formidable linguistic, analytical, and writing skills shine through in this book. . . . [C]ompelling and instructive. . . . [U]ndergraduates and postgraduates, as well as teachers in history and anthropology departments worldwide, are likely to find it of great interest." - Sanjoy Bhattacharya , American Historical Review

“This rich study incorporates a wide range of contemporary and historical materials to make wonderful theoretical interventions into the literature on Ayurveda and India. Langford pulls the reader into a new understanding of the nuanced relationships between history, nation, modernity, clinical debate, and the practices of Ayurveda.” - Vincanne Adams, author of Doctors for Democracy: Health Professionals in the Nepal Revolution