Advisory Committee Chair
Jonathan Wiesen
Advisory Committee Members
Andrew Keitt
Devon Golaszewski
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
1-1-2025
Degree Name by School
Master of Arts (MA) College of Arts and Sciences
Abstract
After the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, the Great Powers of Europe, including the newly-born German Empire, greatly expanded their influence and colonial possessions in Africa, with colonies in East Asia and the South Pacific quickly following suit. The German Empire, like its contemporaries, engaged with medicine as a necessary part of its colonial endeavors in order to keep both its native laborers and European settlers healthy. Using documents from the German Bundesarchiv (Federal Archive), including official reports made to the German Colonial Office and documenting of formally conducted expeditions, as well as the writings of colonial doctors, this research examines the various influences on and foundations of colonial medicine and the accompanying pushes for professional independence, medical sovereignty (the idea that doctors should have a leading role in societal improvements and policy decisions) and the creation of a medically suitable white settler space in the colonies. This research also explores how colonial medicine impacted the post-colonial imagination of German physicians and contributed to their sanitized colonial nostalgia and yearning for their former prestige. In doing so, this research helps illuminate the unique role of colonialism in shaping many of the foundations for modern German medicine and the continuities between the mentalities of colonial medicine and those of Nazi medicine.
Recommended Citation
Joshi, Veda, "In Pursuit Of Sovereignty: Transformations Of Colonial Medicine From Wilhelmine To Nazi Germany" (2025). All ETDs from UAB. 6852.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/6852
Comments
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