5 - Ungovernable Practices: State-Control and Persistence of Traditional Medicine in the Republic Vietnam

This presentation explores the dynamics and limitations of state control in the institutionalization of Traditional medicine in the Republic　Vietnam (South Vietnam, 1955-75). Through an analysis of historical documents and oral interviews, it highlights conflicts between the state’s attempt to modernize traditional medical practitioners and the persistence of traditional practitioners in the process of nation-building.

After a gradual stabilization of the political situation in the Republic of Vietnam after the mid-1960s, the government initiated the development of its medical system. Their goal was to modernize not only biomedicine but also Traditional medicine as an integral part of the country’s modern medical system. Among several aspects of adapting traditional medicine to a modern framework, the healthcare administration paid attention　to the classification and regulation of medical practitioners, who had been traditionally passed down through family and personal networks. The administration classified traditional medical professionals based on specific roles for medical practices, and assigned new names to each category so as to control medical practitioners. However, some of these institutional changes faced resistance at the local level. Certain practitioners as well as the media opposed changing their occupational names. Moreover, not all practitioners were affected by these institutional changes, and regardless of the new classification, their medical practices persistently survived.