The Effects of Elusive Knowledge

Bibliographic Data

ID6015441
AuthorsAlexandra Widmer (0000-0002-3013-7900, York University, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume1
Issue1
Pages92-116
Publication date2008-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Legal Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1758-9584 • E-ISSN: 1758-9576
PublisherBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/jla.2008.010105
OpenAlexW2901037125
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited20

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