Londa Schiebinger

Secret Cures of Slaves

People, Plants, and Medicine in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

This book explores the history of drug development and testing in the eighteenth-century Atlantic World, looking especially at whether slaves were exploited in human medical experiments at the time.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 256
• Erscheinungstermin: 25. Juli 2017
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 254mm x 177mm x 22mm
• Gewicht: 502g
• ISBN-13: 9781503602915
• ISBN-10: 1503602915
• Artikelnr.: 47299199

Autorenporträt

Londa Schiebinger is the John L. Hinds Professor of History of Science at Stanford University. She is the author of the award-winning Plants and Empire: Colonial Bioprospecting in the Atlantic World (2004), among many other works.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
Introduction
chapter abstract
To what extent were slaves exploited in eighteenth-century medical
experiments? To answer this question, The Secret Cures of Slaves develops a
taxonomy of the varieties of experiments within the context of
eighteenth-century medical ethics: exploitative (taking undue risk with
human life) versus nonexploitative (testing with care in the group likely
to benefit from the cure); invasive versus noninvasive; therapeutic to the
individual involved versus nontherapeutic. Today informed consent would
also be a key consideration in judging the exploitative nature of
experiments. This, however, was not the case for experimental
populations-the poor, soldiers, sailors, or slaves-in the eighteenth
century. It was enough that physicians judged a treatment in a subject's
best interest. Although patient consent was not required, physicians often
complied with patients' or parents' wishes.
1The Rise of Scientific Medicine
chapter abstract
Chapter 1 traces the rise of experimental medicine in Europe and how this
translated to Europe's West Indian colonies. It focuses on how race was
investigated in two sets of experiments. The first by Jamaican physician
James Thomson, sought to identify anatomical and physiological differences
between races. Engaging in a grotesque set of experiments to understand
skin color through dissection of persons of African origin, Thomson sought
to locate the ultimate physiological source of blackness in human skin. The
second set of experiments by Colin Chisholm, inspector general for troops
in the British West Indies, designed experiments to understand core body
heat in humans across temperature zones. Chisholm's study included race as
a biological variable, but his focus was "place," specifically patients'
birth and immigration status. Employing newly developed medical
thermometers, Chisholm experiments were designed to answer questions
crucial to the colonial enterprise.
2Experiments with the Negro Dr's Materia Medica
chapter abstract
Chapter 2 turns to experiments to test a cure for yaws that A. J. Alexander
learned from one of his enslaved Africans. One of my purposes in this book
is to expand our knowledge of African contributions to science. Alexander
considered his slave's cure for yaws "Negro Materia Medica." One question
explored here is whether Africans brought their medicines and techniques
with them from their homelands or whether they experimented with new plants
and cures found in the West Indies. This raises methodological questions
about how to trace the circulation of knowledge in the Atlantic World. This
chapter explores evidence for the provenance of the cure that Alexander
learned from his slave. When historical documents fail, what can the plants
tell us? Were the plants employed in cures indigenous to Africa, the
Americas, or both?
3Medical Ethics
chapter abstract
Chapter 3 investigates eighteenth-century ethical brakes to medical
experiments in the Atlantic World. The first section looks at ethics in
Europe; the second at ethics in the Caribbean. The question is: Did
experiments with slaves give birth to new debates and discussion? Did
slaves become an exploited or a protected category?
4Exploitative Experiments
chapter abstract
Chapter 4 focuses on the exploitation of slave bodies in eighteenth-century
medical experiments, primarily in John Quier's experiments with smallpox
inoculation and James Thomson's inoculations with yaws, both in Jamaica.
These physicians took risks beyond what was reasonable to treat the
individual patient; they took unusual liberties with human bodies. Yet
masters had the final word in decisions concerning their slaves. There was
no issue of slave consent-or, for that matter, often physician consent.
5The Colonial Crucible: Debates over Slavery
chapter abstract
Chapter 5 pulls out to a larger frame to understand the violence and fears
endemic to colonial struggles. This chapter explores aspects of African
medicine that were not put to test, such as Obeah, developed by slaves in
the British West Indies. Europeans were interested in the material aspects
of African healing traditions-the specific herbs or bathing techniques-but
they shied away from the spiritual or mystical aspects of Obeah, for
example. This is surprising, since European physicians understood the
potential benefits of what we today call the placebo effect.
Conclusion: The Circulation of Knowledge
chapter abstract
The flow of knowledge in the Atlantic World medical complex was promiscuous
and multidirectional. Knowledge had its origins with Amerindians, persons
of African origins, and persons of European origins (in both Europe and its
far-flung colonies). These knowledges mixed in the Caribbean plantation
complex as Europeans frantically sought to develop tropical medicine to
combat the ravages of colonial disease. This chapter identifies three major
nexuses across which people and their knowledges moved: the colonial nexus
linking Europe and the Americas, the slave trade nexus joining Africa and
the Americas, and the conquest nexus that brought Amerindian practices into
the plantation complex.