The Effects of Elusive Knowledge

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6015441
AutoresAlexandra Widmer (0000-0002-3013-7900, York University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen1
Número1
Páginas92-116
Fecha de publicación2008-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Legal Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1758-9584 • E-ISSN: 1758-9576
EditorialBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/jla.2008.010105
OpenAlexW2901037125
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas20

In this article, I discuss two roles of documents in the creation and enforcement of public health laws in early colonial Vanuatu and their implication in colonial attempts to transform ni-Vanuatu societies and subjectivities. Colonial officials of the British-French Condominium based their projects on their admittedly partial knowledge in reports generated by experts studying depopulation. This knowledge, I argue, produced a ‘population’ by categorizing people according to their relationship with a reified notion of culture. The Condominium enforced health laws by sending letters to people categorized as Christian who would, the Condominium hoped, adhere to the regulations as self governing subjects. Officials would engage in persuasive conversations when they enforced the regulations in ‘bush’ villages. I conclude by reflecting on ni- Vanuatu knowledge of well-being and illness that could not be represented or documented and its centrality for subjectivities that might elude, if not subvert, the modern subject presumed by colonial strategies of governance

Business · Centrality · Colonialism · Corporate governance · Enforcement · Political science · Population · Public health · Public relations · Sociology · Subject (documents · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Law · Medicine · Nursing