"An important [book] on a crucial topic. . . . As educative as it is
healing. . . . does justice to the hundreds of African and diaspora
physicians who bore the white man's burden."--A. G. Adebayo, Kennesaw
State College
"A carefully researched study which illuminates crucial topics in the
history of colonial Africa, the African diaspora, and the history of
medicine, this important book will interest scholars from many
fields."--K. David Patterson, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
This history of West African medicine, seen through the biographies of
African practitioners, documents the struggles of the medical profession
in Africa to achieve autonomy and self-definition.
The practice of African medicine is ancient--the source, in fact, of a
great deal of Western medical knowledge from the Middle Ages onward.
Until the close of the 19th century, African and West Indian physicians
were able to work freely to protect the health of Africans and Europeans
alike in West Africa.
In 1901, however, when colonialism--and pseudoscientific racism--was in
full force, British administrative action brought about an era of
restrictions and segregation, a time of "closed shop," as British
middle-class policy makers described it in the 1950s. Even African
physicians trained in the United States and the former Soviet Union and
Eastern bloc countries were unwelcome in their countries of origin upon
their return home.
This book discusses the role of African doctors in colonial state and
society, the emergence of Africa's modern medical service, and the
contribution of African physicians to an understanding of African
diseases and their treatment. It also deals with traditional African
medicine, beginning in Egypt 3,000 years ago. Historians and social
scientists specializing in West African history, and African historians
in general--especially those interested in medicine--will find the book
essential.
Adell Patton, Jr., is associate professor of history at the University
of Missouri, St. Louis. An Africanist born in Arkansas, he is the author
of book chapters and of articles in the International Journal of African
Historical Studies, the Journal of Negro History, Arkansas Historical
Quarterly, and other journals.
