SMALLPOX VACCINATIONS AND THE PORTUGUESE IN MACAO牛豆疫苗和澳門的葡萄牙人
The article analyzes the reception and implementation of smallpox vaccines in Macau under Portuguese rule, framing the historical process within the broader context of Asian variolation practices and the global-scale transition to immunization through vaccination. The author argues that the introduc...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
April 2006
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40018/3768 |
| Summary: | The article analyzes the reception and implementation of smallpox vaccines in Macau under Portuguese rule, framing the historical process within the broader context of Asian variolation practices and the global-scale transition to immunization through vaccination. The author argues that the introduction of European technology cannot be understood solely as a biomedical transfer, but rather as the outcome of political, administrative, and cultural negotiations in a commercial port, as well as of specific relationships between medical knowledge and local perceptions of risk. Methodologically, the text combines a historiographical review with documentary reading of nineteenth-century references to sanitary measures, linking them to theoretical discussions on the incompleteness of Western understanding regarding the role of “non-Western peoples” in the constitution of science. By highlighting the dichotomy between vaccination and variolation in the relevant documentation from South China, the article shows that the Portuguese administration sought to align itself with “the latest developments” in European medicine, while effectiveness and acceptance depended on local dynamics, including beliefs, pre-existing practices, and public health strategies. It thus concludes that the history of the vaccine in Macau reveals a cultural and institutional encounter, rather than a simple imposition of European models. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |