Western Medicine As Contested Knowledge PDF
Preview Western Medicine As Contested Knowledge
WESTERN MEDICINE AS CONTESTED KNOWLEDGE EDITED BY ANDREW CUNNINGHAM AND BRIDIE ANDREWS general editor John M. MacKenzie When the ‘Studies in Imperialism’ series was founded by Professor John M. MacKenzie more than thirty years ago, emphasis was laid upon the conviction that ‘imperialism as a cultural phenomenon had as significant an effect on the dominant as on the subordinate societies’. With well over a hundred titles now published, this remains the prime concern of the series. Cross-disciplinary work has indeed appeared covering the full spectrum of cultural phenomena, as well as examining aspects of gender and sex, frontiers and law, science and the environment, language and literature, migration and patriotic societies, and much else. Moreover, the series has always wished to present comparative work on European and American imperialism, and particularly welcomes the submission of books in these areas. The fascination with imperialism, in all its aspects, shows no sign of abating, and this series will continue to lead the way in encouraging the widest possible range of studies in the field. Studies in Imperialism is fully organic in its development, always seeking to be at the cutting edge, responding to the latest interests of scholars and the needs of this ever-expanding area of scholarship. AVAILABLE IN THE SERIES Propaganda and empire The manipulation of British public opinion, 1880–1960 John M. MacKenzie Imperialism and popular culture ed John M. MacKenzie ‘At duty’s call’ A study in obsolete patriotism W. J. Reader Images of the army The military in British art, 1815–1914 J. W. M. Hichberger The empire of nature Hunting, conservation and British imperialism John M. MacKenzie Imperial medicine and indigenous societies ed. David Arnold Imperialism and juvenile literature ed. Jeffrey Richards Asia in Western fiction ed. Robin W. Winks, James R. Rush Empire and sexuality The British experience Ronald Hyam Imperialism and the natural world ed. John M. MacKenzie Emigrants and empire British settlement in the dominions between the wars ed. Stephen Constantine Revolution and empire English politics and the American colonies in the seventeenth century Robert M. Bliss Air power and colonial control The Royal Air Force, 1919–39 David E. Omissi Acts of supremacy The British Empire and the stage, 1790–1930 J. S. Bratton et al. Policing the Empire Government, authority and control, 1830–1940 ed. David Anderson, David Killingray Policing and decolonization Nationalism, politics and the police, 1917–65 ed. David Anderson, David Killingray Popular imperialism and the military, 1850–1950 ed. John M. MacKenzie The language of empire Myths and metaphors of popular imperialism, 1880–1918 Robert H. MacDonald Travellers in Africa British travelogues, 1850–1900 Tim Youngs Unfit for heroes Reconstruction and soldier settlement in the empire between the wars Kent Fedorowich Colonial masculinity The ‘manly Englishman’ and the ‘effeminate Bengali’ Mrinalini Sinha Geography and imperialism, 1820–1940 ed. Morag Bell, Robin Butlin, Michael Heffernan ‘An Irish Empire?’ Reading colonialism through children’s books and magazines Keith Jeffery Britannia’s children Aspects of Ireland and the British Empire Kathryn Castle Western medicine as contested knowledge edited by Andrew Cunningham and Bridie Andrews MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS Manchester Copyright © Manchester University Press 1997 While Copyright as a whole is vested in Manchester University Press, copyright in individual chapters belongs to their respective authors, and no chapter may be reproduced wholly or in part without the express permission in writing of both author and publisher. Published by MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS ALTRINCHAM STREET, MANCHESTER, M1 7JA, UK www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Western medicine as contested knowledge / edited by Andrew Cunningham and Bridie Andrews p. cm. — (Studies in Imperialism) ISBN 0–7190–4673–4 1. Public health—Political aspects—Developing countries. 2. Imperialism. 3. Traditional medicine—Developing countries. 4. Social medicine—Developing countries. 5. Medicine—Political aspects—Developing countries. I. Cunningham. Andrew, Dr. II. Andrews, Bridie. III. Series: Studies in imperialism (Manchester, England) RA441. 5. W47 1997 306. 4(cid:31)61—dc20 96–34392 CIP ISBN 0 7190 4673 4 hardback The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. CONTENTS General introduction — page vii The contributors — page viii Acknowledgements — page ix Introduction: Western medicine as contested knowledge Andrew Cunningham and Bridie Andrews page 1 1 WHO and the developing world: the contest for ideology Sung Lee 24 2 AIDS from Africa: Western science or racist mythology? Rosalind J. Harrison-Chirimuuta 46 3 Elders and experts: contesting veterinary knowledge in a pastoral community Richard Waller and Kathy Homewood 69 4 Dances with doctors: Navajo encounters with the Indian Health Service Stephen J. Kunitz and Jerrold E. Levy 94 5 What/who should be controlled? Opposition to yellow fever campaigns in Brazil, 1900–39 Ilana Löwy 124 6 The hook of hookworm: public health and the politics of eradication in Mexico Anne-Emanuelle Birn and Armando Solórzano 147 7 Unequal contenders, uneven ground: medical encounters in British India, 1820–1920 Deepak Kumar 172 [ v ] CONTENTS 8 Plural traditions? Folk therapeutics and ‘English’ medicine in Rajasthan Helen Lambert 191 9 The reduction of personhood to brain and rationality? Japanese contestation of medical high technology Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney 212 10 Rumoured power: Hong Kong, 1894 and Cape Town, 1901 Mary Preston Sutphen 241 11 Drug-resistant malaria: a global problem and the Thai response Helen Power 262 Guide to further reading — page 287 Index — page 291 [ vi ] GENERAL INTRODUCTION The symbiotic relationship between imperialism and the development of Western intellectual disciplines and their practical application in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has recently been subjected to increasing scrutiny. This has been particularly true of medical history, since Western medicine was both profoundly influenced by, and established hegemonic relationships through, encounters with the rest of the world during the imperial era. European medical practitioners, their methodologies still in the process of formulation, embarked upon their own patterns of social and scientific dominance. Through medicine and its related disciplines, the West assured itself that it was capable of diagnosing the bodily ills of the indigenous peoples of empire as part of its wider cultural, political and economic project. Such a medical conquest far exceeded the formal boundaries of empire. Western doctors conceived a mission, scarcely less fervent than that of the Christian missionaries with whom they were often associated, to take their insights to the furthest corners of the world. Many missionaries – Livingstone was perhaps the most celebrated example – adopted medicine as a prime vehicle for imparting Christian values and ultimately beliefs. Within formal empire, medicine and its practitioners enjoyed high prestige, soon establishing powerful administrative networks and close connections with the armed forces, services associated with the environment, and educational institutions. It thus became both a significant cultural marker of imperial superiority and an acknowledged, if often exaggerated, facilitator of the white presence and dominance in the wider world. It is, then, not surprising that its pervasive authority should have had little difficulty in surviving into the post-imperial age. Despite its comparatively limited focus in the understanding of health, illness, diagnosis and treatment, despite the modern fascination with alternative medical traditions, it is still invariably privileged as a superior ‘scientific’ system. This has had a profound influence on health-related international organisations and the social and cultural analysis of ‘epidemics’, of which AIDS is perhaps the best example. This volume examines many of the issues associated with the relationship of medicine and power, together with the grappling of indigenous and Western medical systems. The studies that follow extend their concerns beyond the conventional boundaries of both empire and human medicine. They attempt some global comparative analysis. They embrace major Asian cultures where the contest between traditional methodologies and those of the West has been particularly acute. And they recognise that veterinary science, when applied to domestic stock, opens up fresh areas of conflict which can profoundly influence human health. Together they represent a significant stage in the recent highly rewarding research into the relationship between medicine and imperialism. John M. MacKenzie [ vii ] THE CONTRIBUTORS BRIDIE ANDREWS, Department of History, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. ANNE-EMANUELLE BIRN, Department of Health Policy and Historical Studies at the New School for Social Research in New York City. ANDREW CUNNINGHAM, Wellcome Unit for History of Medicine, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. ROSALIND J. HARRISON-CHIRIMUUTA, consultant ophthalmologist in south-east Staffordshire, co-author of Aids, Africa and Racism (1987). KATHY HOMEWOOD, Department of Anthropology, University College, London. DEEPAK KUMAR, National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies, New Delhi. STEPHEN J. KUNITZ, Department of Community and Preventative Medicine, University of Rochester, New York. HELEN LAMBERT, Department of Anthropology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. SUNG LEE, Stanford Medical School, Stanford, California. JERROLD E. LEVY, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson. ILANA LÖWY, INSERM, Unité 158, Hôpital des Infants Malades, Paris. EMIKO OHNUKI-TIERNEY, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison. HELEN POWER, Department of Economic and Social History, University of Liverpool. MARY PRESTON SUTPHEN, Department of the History of the Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco. ARMANDO SOLÓRZANO, Department of Family and Consumer Studies, and Ethnic Studies Program at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. RICHARD WALLER, Department of History, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. [ viii ] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For advice and assistance we are grateful to David Arnold, C. A. Bayly, Michael Bravo, Lionel Carter, Arne Hessenbruch, Tamara Hug, Christopher Pinney and Molly Sutphen. We are particularly grateful to the series editor, John MacKenzie, for his enthusiastic support of the project from the beginning. [ ix ]
The list of books you might like
