General editor: Andrew S. Thompson Founding 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. Medicine, mobility and the empire SELECTED TITLES AVAILABLE IN THE SERIES WRITING IMPERIAL HISTORIES ed. Andrew S. Thompson EMPIRE OF SCHOLARS Tamson Pietsch HISTORY, HERITAGE AND COLONIALISM Kynan Gentry COUNTRY HOUSES AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE Stephanie Barczewski THE RELIC STATE Pamila Gupta WE ARE NO LONGER IN FRANCE Allison Drew THE SUPPRESSION OF THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE ed. Robert Burroughs and Richard Huzzey HEROIC IMPERIALISTS IN AFRICA Berny Sèbe Medicine, mobility and the empire nyasaland networks, 1859–1960 Markku Hokkanen MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © Markku Hokkanen 2017 The right of Markku Hokkanen to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS ALTRINCHAM STREET, MANCHESTER M1 7JA www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 7849 9146 3 hardback First published 2017 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. Typeset by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited For Liz and in memory of my mother, Marja-Liisa Hokkanen CONTENTS Lists of maps and figures—page viii Acknowledgements—ix Abbreviations—xii Glossary—xiii Maps—xiv Introduction: medicine, mobility and the empire 1 1 Mobilities, medicine and health in the Malawi region: networks of empire, missions and labour, c.1859–c.1960 23 2 Laypeople, professionals and the ‘Livingstone tradition’: assessing European health, spaces and mobilities in South-Central Africa, c.1859–c.1940 54 3 Spiritual and secular medicine in Malawian–British Protestant mission networks, c.1859–c.1940 86 4 Knowledge, secrecy and contestation: early medical encounters, c.1859–c.1930 116 5 African medical middles and migrant doctors, c.1890–c.1960 157 6 Quinine, malarial fevers and mobility: a biography of a ‘European fetish’, c.1859–c.1940 186 7 Colonising African medicines? Central African medicines and poisons and knowledge-making in the empire, c.1859–c.1940 218 Epilogue: mobilities, networks and the making of colonial medical culture 240 Bibliography—245 Index—265 [ vii ] MAPS AND FIGURES Maps 1 Malawi region, late nineteenth century page xiv 2 Southern Africa, early twentieth century xv Figures 1 ‘Dr. Livingstone unlocking Central Africa’, 1870 (Wellcome Library, London) 148 2 Steam power on the Zambesi, 1859–63 (Wellcome Library, London) 149 3 Livingstone’s portable medicines, 1860s (Science Museum, London, Wellcome Images) 150 4 Commercial view of mobile medicine in Central Africa, 1910 (Wellcome Library, London) 151 5 Colonial knowledge-production in the field (1): sleeping sickness commission, c.1911 (Wellcome Library, London) 152 6 Colonial knowledge-production in the field (2): sleeping sickness commission, c.1911 (Wellcome Library, London) 153 7 ‘Livingstone Rousers’ in tabloid form by Burroughs Wellcome, 1896 (Wellcome Library, London) 154 8 Tropical plants investigated: variant of Strophanthus plant, 1885 (Wellcome Library, London) 155 9 Processed medicine from the tropics: strophanthin by Burroughs Wellcome, 1917 (Science Museum, London, Wellcome Images) 156 [ viii ]