Sickness and the State: Health and Illness in Colonial Malaya, 1870–1940 - Softcover

Manderson, Lenore

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521524482 ISBN 13: 9780521524483

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2002

Synopsis

This unique book is a history of health, disease and its prevention in Malaya under colonial rule. With insight and clarity, it explores the relationships among biology, environment, population and the structures of the state. The book emphasizes the role of medicine in legitimizing colonialism and shows that the ill health of populations was related to the political and social climate. The book integrates history, medical and social theory to offer a compelling account of disease and changing health status under colonialism.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

This unique book is a history of health, disease and government policy in colonial Malaya. With insight and clarity, it explores the relationships between biology, environment, population and the structures and requirements of the state. The first account of its kind, it covers the period from the establishment of Colonial Office control to the outbreak of World War II. As she traces the impact of colonialism on health, Lenore Manderson notes that this period was marked by dramatic economic expansion, rapid population growth and changes in patterns of infection. Drawing on the contrasting environments created by colonial capitalism, the book emphasises the role of medicine in legitimating the colonial presence, reinforcing colonial hierarchies and providing a moral logic for imperialism. Much of it also focuses on the populations themselves, on the people whose ill health was directly related to the social and political economy of colonialism. Viewing colonial Malaya through a series of complex lenses, the book integrates social and material history, historical epidemiology and demography, as well as theories of political economy, feminism and postcolonialism.

Review:

"...Manderson's book is a well-written and judicious account of health conditions and concerns in Malaya under British colonialism." Pamela Sodhy, Crossroads

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0521524482
• ISBN 13: 9780521524483
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336