European University Institute Library

The colonial life of pharmaceuticals, medicines and modernity in Vietnam, Laurence Monnais ; translated by Noemi Tousignant

eng

index present

non fiction

The colonial life of pharmaceuticals

electronic resource

dictionaries

1114970814

Laurence Monnais ; translated by Noemi Tousignant

Global health historiesCambridge Social Sciences eBooks

medicines and modernity in Vietnam

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.--, Provided by publisher