Contagion and Enclaves: Tropical Medicine in Colonial India (Postcolonialism Across the Disciplines)

Contagion and Enclaves examines the social history of medicine across two intersecting British enclaves in the major tea-producing region of colonial India: the hill station of Darjeeling and the adjacent tea plantations of North Bengal. Focusing on the establishment of hill sanatoria and other health care facilities and practices against the backdrop of the expansion of tea cultivation and labor migration, it tracks the demographic and environmental transformation of the region and the critical role race and medicine played in it, showing that the British enclaves were essential and distinctive sites of the articulation of colonial power and economy. An Open Access edition of this book is available on the Liverpool University Press website and the OAPEN library.Colonialism created exclusive economic and segregatory social spaces for the exploitation and management of natural and human resources, in the form of plantations, ports, mining towns, hill stations, civil lines and new urban centres for Europeans. Contagion and Enclaves studies the social history of medicine within two intersecting enclaves in colonial India; the hill station of Darjeeling which incorporated the sanitarian and racial norms of the British Raj; and in the adjacent tea plantations of North Bengal, which produced tea for the global market. This book studies the demographic and environmental transformation of the region: the racialization of urban spaces and its contestations, establishment of hill sanatoria, expansion of tea cultivation, labour emigration and the paternalistic modes of healthcare in the plantation. It examines how the threat of epidemics and riots informed the conflictual relationship between the plantations with the adjacent agricultural villages and district towns. It reveals how Tropical Medicine was practised in its ‘field'; researches in malaria, hookworm, dysentery, cholera and leprosy were informed by investigations here, and the exigencies of the colonial state, private entrepreneurship, and municipal governance subverted their implementation. Contagion and Enclaves establishes the vital link between medicine, the political economy and the social history of colonialism. It demonstrates that while enclaves were essential and distinctive sites of articulation of colonial power and economy, they were not isolated sites. The book shows that the critical aspect of the enclaves was in their interconnectedness; with other enclaves, with the global economy and international medical research.

Colonialism created exclusive economic and segregatory social spaces for the exploitation and management of natural and human resources, in the form of plantations, ports, mining towns, hill stations, civil lines and new urban centres for Europeans. Contagion and Enclaves studies the social history of medicine within two intersecting enclaves in colonial India; the hill station of Darjeeling which incorporated the sanitarian and racial norms of the British Raj; and in the adjacent tea plantations of North Bengal, which produced tea for the global market. It establishes the vital link between medicine, the political economy and the social history of colonialism. It demonstrates that while enclaves were essential and distinctive sites of articulation of colonial power and economy, they were not isolated sites. The book shows that the critical aspect of the enclaves was in their interconnectedness; with other enclaves, with the global economy and international medical research.

List of Illustrations viii List of Tables ix Acknowledgements x List of Abbreviations xii 1 Disease and Colonial Enclaves 1 2 The Sanatorium of Darjeeling: European Health in a Tropical Enclave 18 3 Pioneering Years in Plantation and Medicine in Darjeeling, Terai and Duars 53 4 The Sanatorium Enclave: Climate and Class in Colonial Darjeeling 84 5 Contending Visions of Health Care in the Plantation Enclaves 99 6 The Plantation Enclave, the Colonial State and Labour Health Care 119 7 Tropical Medicine in Its ‘Field’: Malaria, Hookworm and the Rhetoric of the ‘Local’ 149 8 Habitation and Health in Colonial Enclaves: The Hill-station and the Tea Plantations 184 Bibliography 194 Index 210 Colonialism Created Exclusive Economic And Segregatory Social Spaces For The Exploitation And Management Of Natural And Human Resources, In The Form Of Plantations, Ports, Mining Towns, Hill Stations, Civil Lines And New Urban Centres For Europeans. This Book Studies The Social History Of Medicine Within Two Intersecting Enclaves In Colonial India; The Hill Station Of Darjeeling Which Incorporated The Sanitarian And Racial Norms Of The British Raj; And In The Adjacent Tea Plantations Of North Bengal, Which Produced Tea For The Global Market. Nandini Bhattacharya. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 194-209) And Index. This book is about the interaction between Tropical Medicine, the colonial state and colonial enclaves. The epistemologies and therapeutics of Western science and medicine informed the practices of colonialism in the tropical world from the eighteenth to the twentieth century.