The Caribbean and the Medical Imagination, 1764–1834 : Slavery, Disease And Colonial Modernity (Cambridge Studies In Romanticism #119)

Synopsis

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Caribbean was known as the 'grave of Europeans'. At the apex of British colonialism in the region between 1764 and 1834, the rapid spread of disease amongst colonist, enslaved and indigenous populations made the Caribbean notorious as one of the deadliest places on earth.

Drawing on historical accounts from physicians, surgeons and travellers alongside literary works, Emily Senior traces the cultural impact of such widespread disease and death during the Romantic age of exploration and medical and scientific discovery. Focusing on new fields of knowledge such as dermatology, medical geography and anatomy, Senior shows how literature was crucial to the development and circulation of new medical ideas, and that the Caribbean as the hub of empire played a significant role in the changing disciplines and literary forms associated with the transition to modernity.

Provides the first substantial study of colonial Caribbean literatures in the context of the high rates of disease and death in the region.

Develops a connection between the field of medical humanities, the history of medicine and colonial Caribbean literatures.

Draws on a wide range of resources from first-hand accounts of local physicians and travellers to drama, fiction and poetry.

Copyright:

2018

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

ISBN-13:

9781108266093

Publisher:

Cambridge University Press

Date of Addition:

04/19/18

Copyrighted By:

Emily Senior

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Medicine

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.

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