Laurence Monnais and Harold J. Cook, eds. Global Movements, Local Concerns: Medicine and Health in Southeast Asia. Singapore: NUS Press, 2012, xxxi+290p.

Abstract

Global Movements, Local Concerns: Medicine and Health in Laurence Monnais and Harold J. Cook, eds. Singapore: NUS Press, 2012, xxxi+290p.This edited volume contributes to the growing scholarly literature dealing with the history of The editors collaborated with 12 scholars of to come up with an 11-chapter compilation dealing with six countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. This is difficult task to perform, as most scholarship tends to focus on one South- east Asian country or comparison between countries with similar histories, given that charac- teristic of Asian countries is their diversity.The volume begins by deconstructing the prevalent notion that the term Southeast Asia was constructed by North American scholars and its allies during the Second World War as way to group the countries into a community of nation-states. Asia, to quote Benedict Anderson, is an artificial construct and the region is remote, heterogeneous, and . . . imperially segmented (Anderson 1998, 5). Another strategy has been to group these countries according to the influences of the region's powerful neighbors, China and India. However, this proved to be insufficient with the migration of Arab, Chinese, and Indians to various countries fostering an image of plural societies. It was only with the introduction of the Braudelian view of long duree- researching one topic over an extended period of time and analyzing material culture in the context of global history-that framework for studying as whole became possible.1)The editors of the volume make clear that the chapters deal with issues of health rather than disease in the countries involved. The chapters avoid dealing with medicine, and focus on the development of medicine. Hence, instead of colonial masters imposing their policies upon the locals, the chapters examine the negotiations between colonial masters and locals and the appropriation of medical practices and policies within local context.This is welcome compilation for Asian scholars and those who study the history of medicine due to its ambition in attempting to tell the history of using micro- level narratives and social histories. However, one of the main issues that arise out of any compi- lation on the history of is the difficulty in grappling with the diversity that exists in region. This difficulty makes itself felt in the compilation and can be seen in the confusing order of the chapters from what initially seems to be chronological (chapters 1 to 8) to an abrupt transi- tion to the modern period with chapter 9, and then back to chronological order with chapters 10 and 11.Thomas B. Colvin's study deals with the expedition of Francisco Xavier Balmis, doctor to the Spanish court who proposed to bring the smallpox vaccine to all of Spain's colonies. The Balmis expedition brought the vaccine using the human chain method, which meant transporting number of healthy young boys who had not been exposed to smallpox and transferring the vaccine from one boy to another until they arrived at the final destination. The Spanish monarchy approved the expedition in order to increase the population of the colonies that had been afflicted by smallpox and stimulate economic activity in the colonies. Despite encountering problems not only with the locals, but with the Spanish as well, the expedition was successful and would have further influence within the surrounding countries.C. Michele Thompson narrates how the Nguyen Dynasty addressed the problem of smallpox and how officials transported the vaccine to Vietnam from France. The smallpox vaccination project was long-term policy; however, the methods in transporting the vaccine introduced by the French proved to be unsuccessful, since it was brought via glass vials, which failed to preserve the live virus on its journey through the summer heat of the South China Sea. …