01397nas a2200169   4500000000100000008004100001260003700042653001400079653001700093653001300110653001200123100001400135245009800149300001200247490000700259520096100266       2011                            d  bOxford University Press aOxford10aSingapore10aOral history10aMalaysia10aleprosy1 aMonnais L00aLoh Kah Seng, Making and Unmaking the Asylum. Leprosy and Modernity in Singapore and Malaysia  a174-1750 v243 aThe strong point of this slim volume lies in the author Loh Kah Seng's choice to ground his work in oral history, specifically some 20 interviews with former leprosy sufferers having been forcibly interned at the Singapore Leprosy Relief Association (Silra) Home or in the ‘Valley of Hope’ (Sungai Buloh, Kuala Lumpur). Given that such isolation facilities are currently being transformed into homes, and that the inmates are theoretically being reintegrated into mainstream society, this volume helpfully sheds light on many unknown aspects in the modern history of leprosy, especially in Southeast Asia. Loh's book also nourishes our historical memory, and the research was suggested and financed by the International Leprosy Association's Global Project for the History of Medicine. This project, funded by the Nippon Foundation and based at the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine at the University of Oxford, is currently developing a …