Leprosy and colonialism: Suriname under Dutch rule, 1750–1950 (Social Histories of Medicine, 6)

Leprosy and colonialism investigates the history of leprosy in the colony of Suriname in the Dutch Caribbean within the context of colonial power and racial conflict - from the plantation economy and the age of slavery to its legacy in the modern colonial state. The book traces the origins of the modern stigmatization and exclusion of people affected with leprosy to the political tensions and racial fears of colonial slave society, tensions exerting their influence up to the present day. Leprosy was framed in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Surinamese slave society as an economic and racial problem and a social and political threat to the functioning of the slave economy, a danger to European dominance. Sufferers were attributed with an inferior racial and/or social status and the solution was to segregate and isolate them, and leave them to their fate. After the abolition of slavery, interest in the problem of leprosy diminished for a time in Suriname; however, compulsory segregation received new impetus in the early 20^th^ century in the context of a modernizing colonial state. Modernization included ‘medicalized’ leprosy politics that made more humane treatment possible, but at the same time increased the detection and segregation of sufferers. This colonial management of leprosy was contested: by sufferers who evaded segregation, by Afro-Surinamese and other non-white population groups who kept to their own belief systems such as the importance of taboo violations, and by patients in the asylums who kept their own an agency. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements Part I Leprosy In A Slave Society 1 The making of a colonial disease in the eighteenth century Suriname in the eighteenth century Racial differences in susceptibility to disease Public hygiene policies, medicine, and slave labour management Godfried Schilling and the colonial and racial framing of leprosy Schilling’s framing of leprosy Diagnosis and treatment Treatments on the plantations Conclusion Notes 2 A policy of ‘Great Confinement’, 1815–1863 Return of Dutch colonial rule and renewed fears about leprosy European medical profeswsionals Medical perspectives on leprosy and elephantiasis Treatments Prevention and segregation Advising stricter policies The decline of the ‘Great Confinement’ policy Conclusion Notes 3 Slaves and medicine: black perspectives The natural: herbal medicine The supernatural: the treef Conclusion Notes 4 ‘Battleground in the jungle’: the Batavia leprosy asylum in the age of slavery A new alliance between the colonial state and the Roman Catholic Church Christianising Batavia Batavia in 1827 The danger of Protestant competition Population numbers Order and disorder Conclusion Notes Part II Leprosy In A Modern Colonial State 5 Transformations and discussion: Suriname and the Netherlands, 1863–1890 New migrant labour Reorganizations Impact on leprosy control Calling upon expertise from Suriname: the Bronbeek affair The danger of contagion: the medical thesis of Drognat Landré Contagion versus inheritance Medical debates without policy consequences Conclusion Notes 6 Towards a modern colonial state: reorganizing leprosy care, 1890–1900 The Peters report Unrest in Batavia The Catholics move Religious battleground Building a new consensus Private asylums The new state asylum Conclusion Notes 7 Developing modern leprosy politics, 1900–1950 Reformulating the leprosy edict: failed attempts Continuing fears Dutch colonial medicine and the need for reform A third alternative The edict of 1929 The authoritarian hand of the colonial state: the crisis of the 1930s Leprosy detection in action: the firm hand of the state Detection in action: counting the numbers Infrapolitics and leprosy: non-.cooperation and friction The Second World War and the end of Dutch colonial rule Conclusion Notes 8 Colonial medicine and folk beliefs in the modern era Fears of Afro-.Surinamese beliefs and practices Treef and smallpox vaccination Thinking about the treef The treef survey Vampires, insects, and leprosy The British Indians The Javanese Conclusion Notes 9 Complex microcosms: asylums and treatments, 1900–1950 Historiography of the modern asylum Groot-Chatillon Majella Bethesda and New-Bethesda Medical treatments Conclusion Notes Conclusion Notes Sources and select bibliography Primary sources, unpublished Archives Primary sources available online Primary sources, printed Journals Books and articles Secondary sources, published books and articles Secondary sources, unpublished manuscripts Index Leprosy and colonialism investigates the history of leprosy in the colony of Suriname in the Dutch Caribbean within the context of colonial power and racial conflict - from the plantation economy and the age of slavery to its legacy in the modern colonial state. The book traces the origins of the modern stigmatization and exclusion of people affected with leprosy to the political tensions and racial fears of colonial slave society, tensions exerting their influence up to the present day. Leprosy was framed in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Surinamese slave society as an economic and racial problem and a social and political threat to the functioning of the slave economy, a danger to European dominance. Sufferers were attributed with an inferior racial and/or social status and the solution was to segregate and isolate them, and leave them to their fate. After the abolition of slavery, interest in the problem of leprosy diminished for a time in Suriname; however, compulsory segregation received new impetus in the early 20 th century in the context of a modernizing colonial state. Modernization included ‘medicalized’ leprosy politics that made more humane treatment possible, but at the same time increased the detection and segregation of sufferers. This colonial management of leprosy was contested: by sufferers who evaded segregation, by Afro-Surinamese and other non-white population groups who kept to their own belief systems such as the importance of taboo violations, and by patients in the asylums who kept their own an agency Leprosy And Colonialism Investigates The History Of Leprosy In Suriname Within The Context Of Dutch Colonial Power And Racial Conflict, From The Plantation Economy And The Age Of Slavery To Its Legacy In The Modern Colonial State. It Explores The Relationship Between The Modern Stigmatization And Exclusion Of People Affected With Leprosy, And The Political Tensions And Racial Fears Originating In Colonial Slave Society, Exerting Their Influence Until After The Decolonization Up To The Present Day. In The Book Colonial Sources Are Read From Shifting Perspectives, Of The Colonial Rulers And, 'from Below', The Ruled. Though Leprosy Is Today A Neglected Tropical Disease, Recognizing Influences Of Our Colonial Heritage In Our Global Management Of Health And Disease, And Exploring The Perspectives Of Other Cultures Are Essential In A Time In Which Migration Movements Make The Permeability Of Boundaries, And Transmission Of Diseases, More Common Then Perhaps Ever Before. Stephen Snelders. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This work investigates the history of leprosy in Suriname within the context of Dutch colonial power and racial conflict, from the plantation economy and the age of slavery to its legacy in the modern colonial state