This is the first volume to examine the range and extent of non-Western responses to western medicine across the spectrum of Western imperialist influence, from Japan in the East to the Navajo of the North American plains in the West.As these studies show, every instance of the introduction of Western medicine in to non-Western societies has been contested. Disputes have taken place over the presence, nature and causation of disease; over appropriate therapies; over the legitimacy of native, foreign and foreign-trained healers; and over the imposition of police measures in the name of public health.By treating medicine as an emblem of the larger power relations involved, the volume makes a significant contribution to the current debate about the relationship between knowledge and political power.