Examines the politics of postcolonial state-building through the lens of disease and public health policy in order to trace how indigenous groups on the periphery of power and geography helped shape the political practices and institutions of modern Mexico. Placing Yucatán at the centre of an international labour force, global economics, and a modernising medical establishment, Heather McCrea incorporates the region into a larger discussion about socioeconomic change and the pervasive role that health care plays in human society.