Table of Contents

List of maps; List of plates; List of tables; Preface; List of abbreviations; 1. Disease and medicine in the history of Africa; 2. From private empire to public colony; 3. Mise en valeur: economic exploitation; 4. Epidemiology and ecology of human sleeping sickness; 5. 'The lure of the exotic': sleeping sickness, tropical medicine and imperialism; 6. Discovery: Liverpool scientists in the Congo; 7. The campaign, part one: sleeping sickness and social medicine; 8. The campaign, part two: the surveys and tensions; 9. The African response; 10. Public health, social engineering and African lives; 11. Conclusion and legacy; Appendices; Notes; Select Bibliography; Index.

Promotional Information

A case-study in the history of sleeping sickness, relating it to the western 'civilising mission'.

Reviews

."..a most interesting and readable account of the social history of a most important disease. Her evidence supports her argument of "medical imperialism"--that medicine was an effective mechanism for the Belgians to impose their authority over subjected peoples." Tanya Weinstein, The International Journal of African Historical Studies