The European and Japanese empires that colonized much of Asia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries faced numerous challenges in public health and social order. They sought to prevent disturbances and rebellions, suppress crime, improve hygiene, and curb the spread of infectious diseases. In the process, they developed apparatuses of modern ‘surveillance,’ particularly in the realms of policing and public health.

Dreams of Prevention and Control outlines the development and limitations of the colonial states’ security and public health measures, spanning from Aden in the west to the Korean Peninsula in the east. This volume examines the colonizers’ perceptions of threats and the methods adopted to combat these threats and highlights the colonized peoples’ responses to these efforts to control.

This collection of studies offers timely insights for twenty-first-century societies, which are increasingly monitored by state and private actors using advanced technologies, including GPS, AI, and vast amounts of data gathered via the Internet.

About Editors and Authors

Takeshi Onimaru is a Professor at the Faculty of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University. His research interests cover political history and modern state formation processes in East and Southeast Asia, mainly focusing on colonial surveillance and
policing.

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