Medicine And Colonial Identity

This excerpt from a book discusses how the study of medicine can provide insights into colonial identity. It also discusses how different strands of identity can be accommodated within a single narrative.

Individuals or groups define their identities in particular ways, choosing from a long list of social variables: nationality, class, race, gender, age, sexuality, occupation or marital status, all of which may change either by choice or fiat. During the 20th century, the issue of identity became increasingly important and yet it remains a problematic category of historical analysis. The historical record is full of diplomats and peasants discussing medicine and health concerns and topics which are significant to the study of medicine - professionalization, therapeutic choice, medical education and medical practice - topics which allow us to juxtapose a number of different strands of identity. This volume shows how the study of medicine can provide new insights into colonial identity and serve as a means to accommodate multiple perspectives on identity within a single narrative. An international range of contributors explore a variety of issues including the perceived self-identity of colonizers, the adoption of Western and traditonal medicine as complemetary aspects of a new modern and nationalist identity, the creation of a modern identity of women in the colonies, and the express