Special Libraries, April 1956

Volume 47, Issue 4https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1956/1003/thumbnail.jp

Special Libraries, April 1948

Volume 39, Issue 4https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1948/1003/thumbnail.jp

Special Libraries, November 1953

Volume 44, Issue 9https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1953/1008/thumbnail.jp

In Passing: Arab American Poetry and the Politics of Race

Racial passing has a long history in America. In fact, there are manifold reasons for passing, not the least of which is to reap benefits-social, economic and legal-routinely denied to people of color. Passing is conventionally understood to be a volitional act that either situationally or permanently allows members of marginalized groups to assimilate into a privileged culture. While it could be argued that those who choose to pass are, in a sense, race traitors, betraying familial, historical and cultural ties to personhood,1 Wald provides another way of reading passing, or crossing the line, as a practice that emerges from subjects\u27 desires to control the terms of their racial definition, rather than be subject to the definitions of white supremacy (6). She further contends that racial distinction, itself, is a basis of racial oppression and exploitation (6)

Special Libraries, December 1942

Volume 33, Issue 10https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1942/1009/thumbnail.jp

Special Libraries, April 1945

Volume 36, Issue 4https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1945/1003/thumbnail.jp

Special Libraries, July-August 1958

Volume 49, Issue 6https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1958/1005/thumbnail.jp

Potency by Name? ‘Medicine Buddha Plant’ and Other Herbs in the Japanese \u3ci\u3eScroll of Equine Medicine\u3c/i\u3e (\u3ci\u3eBa’i sōshi emaki\u3c/i\u3e, 1267)

Buddhist ritual healing and medical therapies included care for domestic animals, such as the horse. In pre-modern Japan, equine medicine (ba’i 馬医) was not restricted to the treatment of military horses; it was also practiced in a religious context. The Scroll of Equine Medicine (Ba’i sōshi emaki 馬医草紙絵 巻, 1267) is an enigmatic picture scroll held by the Tokyo National Museum. It extends to more than six meters and contains images of ten divine figures related to the healing of horses, followed by seventeen pictures of plants, and a postscript emphasizing that the content of the scroll should be kept secret. Many of the plants listed in the scroll are either associated with the world of Buddhism, e.g. Yakushi-sō 薬 師草, ‘Medicine Buddha plant,’ or with horses, e.g. metsu-sō 馬頭草, ‘horsehead plant.’ Previous analyses of the scroll largely focused on the botanical identification of the sketches of the plants. This article reviews current interpretations of the scroll and explores the question of whether the plant names were thought to empower the plants to be used as potent materia medica for veterinary purposes. Based on earlier analyses, I suggest a new interpretation of the scroll from a study of religions perspective taking into consideration that some of the plant names in the scroll indicate both health-related and salvific potency. I also address the possible use of the scroll. The scarcity of textual information and the choice of textual detail and imagery in this ‘secret’ scroll suggests that it was used in the context of an oral transmission and empowerment ritual. The scroll itself seems to have been an object of ritual empowerment, rather than a compendium of materia medica for practical daily use when caring for horses