Supporting the Investigation ofKuruin New Guinea in the 1960s

The Narratives of Four Wives

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2155997
AutoresAnnette Beasley (0000-0001-9571-7626, autor correspondente), A N Beasley
Ano2010
Volume21
Fascículo1
Páginas37-61
Data de publicação2010-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoHistory and Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0275-7206 • E-ISSN: 1477-2612
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02757201003647174
OpenAlexW2011468861
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas32

Frequently missing from official accounts of European involvement in colonial territories is documentation of the contribution made and support provided by the wives who accompanied their husbands. The scientific investigation of the disease kuru, which afflicted the Fore people of New Guinea, provides one such example. From the early 1960s, a succession of medical researchers with their wives and families were based in the Okapa area of the Eastern Highlands. The narratives of three European wives and the spouse of a Fore assistant are the focus of this paper, which employs three contextual frameworks-"dutiful wives", "colonial wives" and "invisible helpers"-to explore their roles and experiences and the contribution they made to the kuru inquiry

Kuru · New guinea · Spouse · Canadian Identity and History · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding