The Colonial Life of Pharmaceuticals: Medicines and Modernity in Vietnam

Laurence Monnais

doi:10.1017/9781108567152

The Colonial Life of Pharmaceuticals

Medicines and Modernity in Vietnam

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Situated at the crossroads between the history of colonialism, of modern Southeast Asia, and of medical pluralism, this history of medicine and health traces the life of pharmaceuticals in Vietnam under French rule. Laurence Monnais examines the globalization of the pharmaceutical industry, looking at both circulation and consumption, considering access to drugs and the existence of multiple therapeutic options in a colonial context. She argues that colonialism was crucial to the worldwide diffusion of modern medicines and speaks to contemporary concerns regarding over-reliance on pharmaceuticals, drug toxicity, self-medication, and the accessibility of effective medicines. Retracing the steps by which pharmaceuticals were produced and distributed, readers meet the many players in the process, from colonial doctors to private pharmacists, from consumers to various drug traders and healers. Yet this is not primarily a history of medicines as objects of colonial science, but rather a history of medicines as tools of social change.

Winner, 2021 EAHMH Book Prize, European Association for the History of Medicine and Health

‘Historians of colonial medicine and anthropologists who study the social life of pharmaceuticals have been eagerly awaiting this book. With exceptional panache, Monnais shows us how taking the material turn can transform the history of global health into a genealogy of our pharmaceutical present. An anthropological sensibility reveals the everyday practice of state medicine, the fostering of markets for medical commodities, and the creation of modern, drug-dependent consumers. Just like mosquitoes, it seems, drugs have lifecycles and ecological niches, and they can serve too as vectors - not of disease, but rather, of European medicine and modernity.'

Warwick Anderson - University of Sydney

‘From colonial indifference and toxic fears to avid consumerism and hybrid therapeutics, Monnais reveals the dynamic history behind Vietnam's pharmaceutical pasts. Her meticulous research highlights Vietnamese agency in the making of a modern medical culture and provides an exemplary study of the origins of medicalization in the global south.'

David Arnold - University of Warwick

‘Brilliantly crafted and ingeniously researched, this is an absorbing exploration of medicalization and modernization under colonial rule that underscores the foundational agency of the colonized and the persistence of therapeutic pluralism. A richly textured study of Vietnam, it also offers a compelling model for understanding the vital role of medicines as vectors of social change across the Global South.'

John Harley Warner - Yale University, Connecticut

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Contents

The Colonial Life of Pharmaceuticals
pp i-i
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Global Health Histories - Series page
pp ii-ii
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The Colonial Life of Pharmaceuticals - Title page
pp iii-iii
Medicines and Modernity in Vietnam
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Copyright page
pp iv-iv
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Contents
pp v-v
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Figures
pp vi-vi
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Tables
pp vii-vii
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Acknowledgments
pp viii-viii
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Abbreviations
pp ix-x
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Introduction
pp 1-22
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1 - Making Medicines Modern, Making Medicines Colonial
pp 23-53
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2 - Medicines in Colonial (Public) Health
pp 54-82
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3 - The Mirage of Mass Distribution: State Quinine and Essential Medicines
pp 83-115
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4 - The Many Lives of Medicines in the Private Market
pp 116-146
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5 - Crimes and Misdemeanors: Transactions and Transgressions in the Therapeutic Market
pp 147-172
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7 - Medicines as Vectors of Modernization and Medicalization
pp 200-232
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8 - Therapeutic Pluralism under Colonial Rule
pp 233-253
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Conclusion: From Colonial Medicines to Postcolonial Health
pp 254-262
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Bibliography
pp 263-276
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Index
pp 277-280
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The Colonial Life of Pharmaceuticals

Medicines and Modernity in Vietnam

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Contents

The Colonial Life of Pharmaceuticals
pp i-i

Global Health Histories - Series page
pp ii-ii

The Colonial Life of Pharmaceuticals - Title page
pp iii-iii

Copyright page
pp iv-iv

Contents
pp v-v

Figures
pp vi-vi

Tables
pp vii-vii

Acknowledgments
pp viii-viii

Abbreviations
pp ix-x

Introduction
pp 1-22

1 - Making Medicines Modern, Making Medicines Colonial
pp 23-53

2 - Medicines in Colonial (Public) Health
pp 54-82

3 - The Mirage of Mass Distribution: State Quinine and Essential Medicines
pp 83-115

4 - The Many Lives of Medicines in the Private Market
pp 116-146

5 - Crimes and Misdemeanors: Transactions and Transgressions in the Therapeutic Market
pp 147-172

6 - Learning Effects: Lived Experiences, Pharmaceutical Publicity, and the Roots of Selective Demand
pp 173-199

7 - Medicines as Vectors of Modernization and Medicalization
pp 200-232

8 - Therapeutic Pluralism under Colonial Rule
pp 233-253

Conclusion: From Colonial Medicines to Postcolonial Health
pp 254-262

Bibliography
pp 263-276

Index
pp 277-280

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The Colonial Life of Pharmaceuticals

Medicines and Modernity in Vietnam

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