A History of Plague in Java, 1911–1942 - Softcover

Meerwijk, Maurits Bastiaan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 150176683X ISBN 13: 9781501766831

Publisher: Southeast Asia Program Publications, 2022

Synopsis

In A History of Plague in Java, 1911–1942, Maurits Bastiaan Meerwijk demonstrates how the official response to the 1911 outbreak of plague in Malang led to one of the most invasive health interventions in Dutch colonial Indonesia. Eager to combat disease, Dutch physicians and officials integrated the traditional Javanese house into the "rat-flea-man" theory of transmission. Hollow bamboo frames and thatched roofs offered hiding spaces for rats, suggesting a material link between rat plague and human plague. Over the next thirty years, 1.6 million houses were renovated or rebuilt, millions more were subjected to periodic inspection, and countless Javanese were exposed to health messaging seeking to "rat-proof" their beliefs along with their houses.

The transformation of houses, villages, and people was documented in hundreds of photographs and broadcast to overseas audiences as evidence of the "ethical" nature of colonial rule, proving so effective as propaganda that the rebuilding continued even as better alternatives, such as inoculation, became available. By systematically reshaping the built environment, the Dutch plague response dramatically expanded colonial oversight and influence in rural Java.

About this title

About the Author

Maurits Bastiaan Meerwijk is Scientific Secretary at the Health Council of the Netherlands and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for History at Leiden University. Follow him on X @maurits_1989.

Edition details

• Publisher: Southeast Asia Program Publications
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 150176683X
• ISBN 13: 9781501766831
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 258