제국의 실험실: 일제강점기 한반도의 콜레라 백신 접종과 1926년 국제위생회의

Abstract

Since the first cholera pandemic in 1817, cholera was major international concern in terms of both health and commerce. At the same time, cholera was considered inherently ‘oriental’ by Europeans. After World War I, International Sanitary Convention adopted in 1911 needed revision in light of changing global power dynamics and medical knowledge. By this time, Japan rose as significant power in international politics, as well as in medical domains. In 1926 International Sanitary Conference, Japan requested special consideration on Far East, claiming previous convention was Eurocentric. Also Japan argued most of epidemic in Japanese empire was imported from other nations, specifically China. Effectively separating them from rest of the Far East. Experiences from colonies helped Japanese delegates in conference with necessary scientific data. Mass vaccination during 1919-20 cholera epidemic in Korea with large follow-up data on effectiveness of vaccination made significant impression on other deligates, in turn, helped Japan to implement their agenda in 1926 International Sanitary convention. This shows how medical knowledge produced in colony was represented in international domain, and utilized colony as ‘laboratory.’