Epidemic Encounters, Communities, and Practices in the Colonial World

380 Pages·2023·4.317 MB·English

by  Poonam Bala (editor), Russel Viljoen (editor)

Epidemic Encounters,
Communities, and
Practices in the Colonial
World

Epidemic Encounters,
Communities, and
Practices in the Colonial
World
Edited by
Poonam Bala and Russel Viljoen
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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ISBN 9781793651228 (cloth: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781793651235 (ebook)
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Dedicated to
Our late parents, who were remarkable individuals in their own right.
Sh Raghubir Narain and Smt. Sharda for their love and
inspiration and for guiding me to the path of righteousness.
Ann and Brian Viljoen, who taught me the value of humility, faith and trust.

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction: Understanding Epidemics, Colonial Encounters and
Communities 1
Poonam Bala and Russel Viljoen
1 Quarantine, Epidemics and Health: Framing Indigenous
Engagements and Resistance in Colonial India 17
Poonam Bala
2 The Uncouth Woes: The Prevalence of Venereal Diseases in
the British or European Troops in India (ca. 1864–1918) 41
Apalak Das
3 Bubonic Plague and State Control in Zanzibar (ca. 1897–1905) 65
Amina Ameir Issa
4 Cape of Contagion: Cape Town, Contagion and the Curse
of Smallpox (ca. 1713, 1755 and 1767) 85
Russel Viljoen
5 Measles: The Undercover Killer 115
Elizabeth van Heyningen
6 Merchants, Explorers and Academicians: Scientific Travel
from the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries 137
Matthew E. Franco
vii
viii Contents
7 The Continuing Search for Green Gold: Quest for Medical
Plants in the Colonial Period 167
Sohini Das
8 Disease and Dependency in Kweneng, Botswana
(ca. 1880–1930) 189
Jeff Ramsay
9 Colonialism, Epidemics and the Indian Experience
(ca. 1817–1920) 211
Saurav Kumar Rai
10 Colonization, Disease and Displacement in Australia in
the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 235
Mark F. Briskey
11 Epidemic and the Raj: Locating Malarial Fever in
Colonial Bengal 257
Arabinda Samanta
12 Contagious Labour and Epidemics in Colonial India
and South Africa 283
Jacob Steere-Williams
13 Epidemics and the Indigenous Tribes: Sub-Himalayan
Bengal and the Jungle Mahals (ca. 1860–1930) 311
Sahara Ahmed
14 A Cinderella Disease: Colonialism and the Spread of
Tuberculosis 337
Suvankar Dey
Index 359
About the Contributors 365
Acknowledgements
It is an extreme delight to see this book in print finally! The idea of a book
project was conceived before the pandemic and completed during what would
seem to be the back end of the pandemic, even though COVID-19 and the
coronavirus will be with us for the rest of our lives. The book was envisioned
to research the impact of colonization and disease on indigenous societies not
knowing, of course, how an unknown disease disrupted and destroyed the
lives and livelihoods of people from all walks of life in our present world. It,
no doubt, provided researchers and academics a new and better understand-
ing of disease and its impact on the lives of people past and present. With a
long and tumultuous journey, occasionally halted by the pandemic that took
a toll on humanity, globally, this book was not devoid of a roller coaster ride
since its inception in 2019. Yet, this was no deterrent for this project and the
journey continued!
Long-distance collaboration always poses a challenge when it comes to
sharing the same academic platform of writing a volume jointly. Yet, the
more than two-year journey of book writing has been immensely productive
for which I thank my colleague and a friend I truly respect, Russel Viljoen,
for his collegiality, commitment and cooperation in this long trek and I hope
this will build up new collaborative academic ventures.
As co-editor of an important book on disease and colonial societies, my
collaboration and association with Poonam Bala was equally rewarding and
special, both personally and academically. As a senior scholar, her knowl-
edge and expertise on the subject of disease studies, the social history of
medicine and disease is exceptional and solid. Our friendship and collegial
association spans well over a decade and this is our first collaboration as edi-
tors, for which I am very grateful.
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