Uncertainty, Anxiety, Frugality. Dealing with Leprosy in the Dutch East Indies, 1816-1942.
by VAN BERGEN, LEO
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
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Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
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About This Item
Singapore.: NUS Press. 2018.. ix + 291pp, index, paperback. The story of leprosy in the Dutch East Indies from the beginning of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th reveals important themes in the colonial enterprise across the territory that is today’s Indonesia. Operating in a territory with only a few hundred Western-trained doctors and a population in the tens of millions, Dutch colonial officials approached leprosy with uncertainty and anxiety.
In the early 19th century, the Dutch administration simply removed sufferers from public view: campaigns targetted anyone “looking ugly”. Towards the end of the century, colonial science considered leprosy a hereditary disease of tropical subjects, and therefore undeserving of the colonial government’s limited resources. The leprosariums were emptied.
At the start of the 20th century, a growing understanding that leprosy was spread by a bacillus caused a panic that leprosy might spread from the tropics to the colonial metropole. The mixed emotions of pity, fear and revulsion associated with management of the disease intensified, and fed into broader debates on colonial policy. The experts were unsure, and resources were never forthcoming, and despite a view that “bacteria are the same everywhere”, Dutch leprosy treatment in the East Indies mobilized traditional healing practices and relied on home care.
Leo van Bergen’s detailed, attentive study to changing policies for treatment and prevention of leprosy (now often called Hansen’s disease) is fascinating medical history, and provides a useful lens for understanding colonialism in Indonesia. .
In the early 19th century, the Dutch administration simply removed sufferers from public view: campaigns targetted anyone “looking ugly”. Towards the end of the century, colonial science considered leprosy a hereditary disease of tropical subjects, and therefore undeserving of the colonial government’s limited resources. The leprosariums were emptied.
At the start of the 20th century, a growing understanding that leprosy was spread by a bacillus caused a panic that leprosy might spread from the tropics to the colonial metropole. The mixed emotions of pity, fear and revulsion associated with management of the disease intensified, and fed into broader debates on colonial policy. The experts were unsure, and resources were never forthcoming, and despite a view that “bacteria are the same everywhere”, Dutch leprosy treatment in the East Indies mobilized traditional healing practices and relied on home care.
Leo van Bergen’s detailed, attentive study to changing policies for treatment and prevention of leprosy (now often called Hansen’s disease) is fascinating medical history, and provides a useful lens for understanding colonialism in Indonesia. .
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Details
- Bookseller
- Asia Bookroom (AU)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 160958
- Title
- Uncertainty, Anxiety, Frugality. Dealing with Leprosy in the Dutch East Indies, 1816-1942.
- Author
- VAN BERGEN, LEO
- Book Condition
- Used
- Binding
- Paperback
- Publisher
- NUS Press
- Place of Publication
- Singapore.
- Date Published
- 2018.
- Keywords
- Dutch East Indies, Health, Indonesia, Medicine, zz_Gallery_NewBooks
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About the Seller
Asia Bookroom
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Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
About Asia Bookroom
Asia Bookroom is a large open shop specialising in books on Asia. We also have smaller sections on the Middle East and the Pacific. Our stock ranges from antiquarian books through to new books. We also carry ephemera relating to Asia including an interesting range of 19th and 20th Century ephemera published in East Asia in English, Chinese and Japanese.
Asia Bookroom issues regular specialised book lists on Asia and invite you to let us know your interests so that we can let you know of new arrivals as they come in to stock. And if you are in Australia's capital city Canberra we hope you will visit our shop!
Asia Bookroom issues regular specialised book lists on Asia and invite you to let us know your interests so that we can let you know of new arrivals as they come in to stock. And if you are in Australia's capital city Canberra we hope you will visit our shop!