The government medical service and British missions in colonial Malawi, c.1891–1940

Crucial collaboration, hidden conflicts

Bibliographic Data

ID20056718
AuthorsMarkku Hokkanen (0000-0002-1996-9263, corresponding author)
Year2019
Publication date2019-01-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueBeyond the State (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherManchester University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.7765/9781526137074.00007
OpenAlexW2204928639
ISBN9781526137074
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited4

This chapter deals with relations between the colonial medical service and major British missions in early colonial Malawi (c. 1891–1940). It focuses on the networks that connected missions with the medical service and co-operation between the two in information sharing, public health campaigns and the medical training of African staff. Then, the chapter analyses conflicts between missionaries and the colonial state, contests over authority and critiques of policy and practice. Co-operation between the British missions and the colonial medical service in Malawi was extensive and mutually beneficial, but there were also important areas of conflict and contestation. These clashes were kept mostly private, as both sides attempted to present a united front as medical collaborators. However, Western medicine in colonial Malawi was not monolithic or marked by simple dualism between state and missions. Medical practice, practitioners, knowledge and materials were constituted, transferred and connected in complex imperial networks that included Medical Officers, missionary physicians and various medical middles

Business · Colonialism · Dualism · Family medicine · Medical practice · Political science · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Law · Medicine · Public Administration

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