The nuns of lepers: Compassion, discipline and surrogate parenthood in a former leper colony of Vietnam
Date
2018
Authors
Yen, Le Hoang Ngoc
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis Group
Abstract
This paper focuses on a Christian model of leprosy care overseen by Catholic nuns in
Quy Hòa, a leprosarium in South Central Vietnam, from 1929—when the leper
colony was established—until 1975, when the American-backed Southern regime
collapsed and all of Quy Hòa’s foreign nuns were forced to leave. Drawing on
recollections of elderly residents of the former leprosy colony, it describes the close and
loving attention that the nuns offered to inmates, an attentiveness that was informed
by the nuns’ ethic of Christian sacrifice. The nuns at Quy Hòa successfully built a
quasi parent–child relationship with leprosy-afflicted inmates. Their striking devotion
to the ‘lepers’ resembles substitute motherhood. However, these recollections of that
era also shed critical light on an approach to leprosy care that was premised on
hierarchy, strictly enforced segregation from the wider community and pronounced
paternalism towards all those who came under the nuns’ rule of care.
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Keywords
Leprosy, Christian, Nuns, Care;, Discipline, Parenthood
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Source
The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology
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Journal article
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Restricted until
2099-12-31
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