Synopses & Reviews
In the middle decades of the twentieth century, Asia was at the heart of international efforts to create a new utopia: a world free from disease. Positioned at the unexplored boundary between international history and the history of colonial/postcolonial medicine, the book is a political, intellectual, and social history of public health in Asia, from the 1930s to the early 1960s. The discussion takes India as its core focus, but highlights the international networks connecting developments in India with the Asian region and the wider world, from Rangoon to New York. Drawing on a diverse range of sources, the book contributes to debates on nationalism, internationalism and the post-colonial State.
Review
“Decolonizing International Health is as impressive in the material it presents as in the argument it unfolds. This excellent study of internationalization and the politics of health deserves a wide and appreciative readership.” -- David Arnold, Journal of Contemporary History
Synopsis
This book offers a history of international public health spanning the colonial and post-colonial eras. The volume focuses on India and the transnational networks connecting developments in India with Southeast Asia, and the wider world and contributes to debates on nationalism, internationalism and science in an age of decolonization.
Synopsis
A political, intellectual, and social history of public health in Asia, from the 1930s to the early 1960s.
About the Author
SUNIL AMRITH is a research fellow at Trinity College, University of Cambridge.
Table of Contents
Prologue: A New Utopia * Introduction: Decolonizing Health * 'Under a Coconut Shell': The Culture of Rural Hygiene * War and the Rise of Disease Control * Health and Development in the 'New Asia' * Technical Assistance and the Medical Imagination * Public Health, with and without the Body * Ungovernable Spaces: Nature Returns * Conclusion: Enduring Utopias