The
Nguyen Mission for Smallpox Vaccine: Promising Leads from the Portuguese
Archives
C. Michele Thompson, Department of History,
Southern Connecticut University
Jean Marie Despiau, originally from the town of Brazas in Gironde France,
first arrived in Vietnam in 1795. He became a member of the medical service
for the military forces of Nguyen Anh, later Emperor Gia Long. At that
time Nguyen Anh was involved in a brutal civil war which resulted, after
his victory, in the establishment of the Nguyen Dynasty in 1802. After
the founding of the dynasty Jean Marie Despiau became a member of the
Nguyen Palace Medical Service and he served under Emperors Gia Long and
Minh Mang from 1802 until he died in1824. In June 1820, shortly after
his father Gia Long's death, Emperor Minh M?ng dispatched Jean Marie Despiau
to Macao for smallpox vaccine. This mission raises many questions about
Vietnam during this period. My earlier research answered some of those
questions and raised still other. This talk for Yale Southeast Asian Studies
will give a brief account of the 1820-21 Nguyen Mission to Macau and its
aftermath. The talk will then move to a discussion of global events leading
up to the mission which shaped its enactment. The talk will conclude with
a presentation of my recent findings in Lisbon regarding this mission.
C. Michele Thompson received a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian History
from the University of Washington in 1998. She is currently an Associate
Professor of History at Southern Connecticut State University. She is
the author of several articles on Vietnamese Traditional Medicine and
on French Colonial Medicine in Indochina. She is currently working on
a manuscript to be published as Northern Treasures Southern Essences:
an Examination of Vietnamese Traditional Medicine, and she is the
Chair of the Vietnam Studies Group.
For current Yale SEAS Seminars and Events schedule, see: http://www.yale.edu/seas/Seminars.htm