Imperial Contagions
Medicine, Hygiene, and Cultures of Planning in Asia
9789888139521
9789888139125
Distributed for Hong Kong University Press
Imperial Contagions
Medicine, Hygiene, and Cultures of Planning in Asia
Imperial Contagions complicates common historical narratives portraying a straightforward shift from older, enclavist models of colonial medicine to newer pursuits of prevention and treatment among indigenous populations and European residents. In a series of essays, the volume shows colonial medicine was not a homogeneous, “on the ground” phenomenon but rather a practice rife with tensions and contradictions. Indigenous elites contested and appropriated Western medical knowledge and practices for their own purposes, while colonial policies contained contradictory and cross-cutting impulses. Contributors ultimately challenge the long-standing belief that colonial regimes uniformly regulated indigenous bodies and that colonial medicine served as a “tool of empire.”
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