Of Mosquitoes and Men. Medical Knowledge and Inter-Communitarian Relations in Freetown (Sierra Leone) at the Turn of the xix th Century

By Odile Goerg
English

At the beginning of the xix th century, the evolution from the miasma theory to the scientific identification of disease vectors for malaria and yellow fever led to the stigmatization of the population who was considered to be responsible for the presence of mosquitoes in Freetown. A double discourse of accusation then appeared: from the colonial authorities towards the African population, but also from the Creoles towards immigrant and neo-urban groups. What was in play was the use of space as well as the frontier between the private, the intimate, and the public.

Keywords

  • Freetown
  • mosquito
  • hygiene
  • private/public space
  • politics of racial relationship
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