MEDICINE AND COLONIALISM: THE ROLE OF THE PASTEUR INSTITUTE IN SAIGON IN MEDICAL ACTIVITIES IN COCHINCHINA UNDER FRENCH COLONIALISM (1891-1945)

Abstract

From the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, medicine not only contributed to the improvement of public health but also emerged as an instrument of colonial governance. This study examines the role of the Pasteur Institute in Saigon in medical activities across Cochinchina (1891–1945), with the aim of elucidating the interrelationship between experimental science, public health policy, and colonial power. Based on the historical method, logical reasoning, and an interdisciplinary approach combining history and sociology, the article analyzes archival documents, colonial medical reports, and contemporary research to elucidate how the Pasteur Institute of Saigon functioned as a crucial link within the colonial healthcare network. At the same time, the article contributes to constructing the image of the French colonial government as a "civilizing force" under the guise of science. In this context, the Pasteur Institute not only produced vaccines for disease prevention but also played a role in epidemic control, served the military, and safeguarded the interests of the colonial administration. Furthermore, the study reveals that beneath the ostensibly humanitarian medical initiatives lay a system of bio-social control, wherein vaccines and modern medicine became mechanisms for maintaining colonial order. By approaching the history of medicine through the analytical lens of power and politics, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the dual role of the Pasteur Institute in Saigon: both as a pioneering center of scientific innovation and as an apparatus serving the French colonial project in Indochina.