Race, Science And Medicine, 1700-1960 (studies In The Social History Of Medicine)

Race, Science and Medicine, 1700–1960 Studies in the Social Histor y of Medicine Series Editor: Bernard Harris Life, Death and the Elderly Edited by Margaret Pelling and Richard M. Smith Medicine and Charity Before the Welfare State Edited by Jonathan Barry and Colin Jones In the Name of the Child Edited by Roger Cooter Reassessing Foucault Power, Medicine and the Body Edited by Colin Jones and Roy Porter From Idiocy to Mental Deficiency Edited by David Wright and Anne Digby Nutrition in Britain Edited by David F. Smith Health Care and Poor Relief in Protestant Europe 1500–1700 Edited by Ole Peter Grell and Andrew Cunningham Migrants, Minorities and Health Historical and Contemporary Studies Edited by Lara Marks and Michael Worboys Midwives, Society and Childbirth Edited by Hilary Marland and Anne Marie Rafferty The Locus of Care Edited by Peregrine Hordern and Richard Smith Insanity, Institutions and Society Edited by Joseph Melling and Bill Forsythe Illness and Healing Alternatives in Western Europe Edited by Marijke Gijswit-Hofstra, Hilary Marland and Hans de Waardt Race, Science and Medicine, 1700–1960 Edited by W altr aud Er nst and Ber nard Harris London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001. © 1999 selection and editorial matter, Waltraud Ernst and Bernard Harris; individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. 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 Race, science and medicine, 1700–1960 / edited by Waltraud Ernst and Bernard Harris. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Medicine–Social aspects–History. 2. Colonization–Health aspects–History. 3. Imperialism–Health aspects–History. 4. Science–Social aspects–History. 5. Social medicine–History. I. Ernst, Waltraud, 1955– . II. Harris, Bernard, 1961– . R133.R33 1999 98–55200 610'.9–dc21 CIP ISBN 0-415-18152-6 (Print Edition) ISBN 0-203-02542-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-17335-X (Glassbook Format) Contents Notes on contributors 1 Introduction: historical and contemporary perspectives on race, science and medicine vii 1 WALTRAUD ERNST 2 Western medicine and racial constitutions: surgeon John Atkins’ theory of polygenism and sleepy distemper in the 1730s 29 NORRIS SAAKWA-MANTE 3 From the land of the Bible to the Caucasus and beyond: the shifting ideas of the geographical origin of humankind 58 H.F. AUGSTEIN 4 Colonial policies, racial politics and the development of psychiatric institutions in early nineteenth-century British India 80 WALTRAUD ERNST 5 Racial categories and psychiatry in Africa: the asylum on Robben Island in the nineteenth century HARRIET DEACON 101