During the first half of the 20th century, representatives of the French colonial health services actively strove to expand the practice of Western medicine in the frontier colony of Cambodia. But as the French physicians ventured beyond their colonial enclaves, they found themselves negotiating with the plurality of Cambodian cultural practices relating to health and disease. These negotiations were marked by some success, a great deal of misunderstanding, and much failure. Bringing together colourful historical vignettes, social and anthropological theory, and quantitative analyses, Mixed Medicines examines these interactions between the Khmer, Cham, and Vietnamese of Cambodia and the French, documenting the differences in their understandings of medicine and revealing the unexpected transformations that occurred during this period-for both the French and the indigenous population.
Mixed Medicines: Health and Culture in French Colonial Cambodia
ISBN
9780226031644Authors
Sokhieng AuExtent
263Format
PaperbackYear
2011Publisher
University of Chicago Distribution