Seeds of the Settler Colony: How Peasant and Kazakh Knowledge, Environment, and Bureaucracy Shaped Steppe Agronomy in the Late Russian Empire.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Russian imperial officials hoped to transform the Kazakh Steppe from a zone of pastoral nomadism into a zone of sedentary grain farms. They planned to accomplish this transformation by importing peasants from European Russia and settling them in the steppe along with advanced scientific agricultural practices, equipment, and infrastructure. It was a project that linked steppe settlement and the Russian Empire to a global story of settler colonialism, science, and technology in the first decades of the twentieth century. An examination of this project through the lens of the expansion of grain farming reveals that the changes it wrought were not solely due to European science and technology but were contingent, dependent on local knowledge, the vagaries of climate, and adaptation to the realities of the steppe environment.

Revisiting Traditional Chinese Medicine in Hong Kong during the Influenza Epidemics in the 1950s and 1960s.

This paper examines the supply and utilization of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Hong Kong during the influenza epidemics of the 1950s and 1960s. Existing narratives of TCM in Hong Kong have predominantly framed with within the dichotomy of Western medicine "Xiyi" and Chinese medicine "Zhongyi," portraying TCM as marginalized and nearly wiped out by colonial power. Departing from this binary opposition, this study views TCM as an autonomous space that had never been subjugated by the colonial power which opted for minimal interventionist approach toward TCM. By adopting diachronic and synchronic perspectives on Hong Kong's unique environment shaped by its colonial history and the geopolitics of the Cold War in East Asia, particularly its relationships with "China," this research seeks to reassess the role and status of TCM in post-World War II Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, along with other countries in East Asia, traditional medicine has ceded its position as mainstream medicine to Western medicine. Faced with the crisis of "extinction," Chinese medical professionals, including medical practitioners and merchant groups, persistently sought solidarity and "self-renewal." In the 1950s and 1960s, the colonial authorities heavily relied on private entities, including charity hospitals and clinics; furthermore, there was a lack of provision of public healthcare and official prevention measures against the epidemic influenza. As such, it is not surprising that the Chinese utilized TCM, along with Western medicine, to contain the epidemics which brought about an explosive surge in the number of patients from novel influenza viruses. TCM was significantly consumed during these explosive outbreaks of influenza in 1957 and 1968. In making this argument, this paper firstly provides an overview of the associations of Chinese medical practitioners and merchants who were crucial to the development of TCM in Hong Kong. Secondly, it analyzes one level of active provision and consumption of Chinese medicine during the two flu epidemics, focusing on the medical practices of TCM practitioners in the 1957 epidemic. While recognizing the etiologic agent or agents of the disease as influenza viruses, the group of Chinese medical practitioners of the Chinese Medical Society in Hong Kong adopted the basic principles of traditional medicine regarding influenza, such as Shanghanlun and Wenbingxue, to distinguish the disease status among patients and prescribe medicine according to correct diagnoses, which were effective. Thirdly, this paper examines the level of folk culture among the people, who utilized famous prescriptions of Chinese herbal medicine and alimentotherapy, in addition to Chinese patent medicines imported from mainland China. In the context of regional commercial network, this section also demonstrates how Hong Kong served as a sole exporting port of medicinal materials (e.g., Chinese herbs) and Chinese patent medicines from the People's Republic of China to capitalist markets, including Hong Kong, under the socialist planned or controlled economy in the 1950s and 1960s. It was not only the efficacy of TCM in restoring immunity and alleviating symptoms of the human body, but also the voluntary efforts of these Chinese medical practitioners who sought to defend national medicine "Guoyi," positioning it as complementary and alternative medicine to scientific medicine. Additionally, merchants who imported and distributed Chinese medicinal materials and national "Guochan" Chinese patent medicine played a crucial role, as did the people who utilized Chinese medicine, all of which contributed to making TCM thrive in colonial Hong Kong.

A Food Utopia? Italian Colonial Visions of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, 1911-13.

This article explores the uses of utopian rhetoric of food plenty in Italian colonial visions before the First World War. It examines the travel writings of three leading Italian journalists, Enrico Corradini, Arnaldo Fraccaroli, and Giuseppe Bevione, who visited the Ottoman provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica and campaigned for their colonization by Liberal Italy. By reconstructing their utopian rhetoric of food plenty, this article seeks to show the relevance of arguments about food and agriculture produce to early twentieth century colonial visions, shedding light on an aspect of Italian political thought that has been hitherto marginalized in existing historical scholarship.

Prison Papermaking: Colonial Ideals of Industrial Experimentation in India.

This article questions the economic rationale of colonial experimentation and prison labor, arguing that for many administrators a prison-based experiment's success mattered less than its existence. It examines the position of convict labor and penal discipline within colonial industrial experiments in colonial India, where convicts performed experiments for what one administrator described as "the most penal" form of labor, papermaking. The belief that Indian fibers could open a new export market for global papermaking meant that prisons became prominent sites of experimentation with new pulps. Regional prisons gained state monopolies for handmade paper, often decimating local independent producers. Yet prison and industrial officers counterintuitively positioned the frequent failures of papermaking experiments as a continuing potential source for industrial improvement. They argued that the failures demonstrated the need to improve discipline and supervision. Prison experiments slotted convicts into repetitive, mechanized roles that served European investigations into the utility of Indian products.

The Lancet and colonialism: past, present, and future.

The historical and contemporary alignment of medical and health journals with colonial practices needs elucidation. Colonialism, which sought to exploit colonised people and places, was justified by the prejudice that colonised people's ways of knowing and being are inferior to those of the colonisers. Institutions for knowledge production and dissemination, including academic journals, were therefore central to sustaining colonialism and its legacies today. This invited Viewpoint focuses on The Lancet, following its 200th anniversary, and is especially important given the extent of The Lancet's global influence. We illuminate links between The Lancet and colonialism, with examples from the past and present, showing how the journal legitimised and continues to promote specific types of knowers, knowledge, perspectives, and interpretations in health and medicine. The Lancet's role in colonialism is not unique; other institutions and publications across the British empire cooperated with empire-building through colonisation. We therefore propose investigations and raise questions to encourage broader contestation on the practices, audience, positionality, and ownership of journals claiming leadership in global knowledge production.

The biological standard of living of Korean men under Confucianism, colonialism, capitalism, and communism.

This study focuses on analysing the heights of 10,953 Korean men aged 20 to 40 years who were measured during the Joseon dynasty, the Japanese colonialisation period, and the contemporary period, the latter including both North and South Korea. This study thus provides rare long-term statistical evidence on how biological living standards have developed over several centuries, encompassing Confucianism, colonialism, capitalism, and communism. Using error bar analysis of heights for each historical sample period, this study confirms that heights rose as economic performance improved. For instance, economically poorer North Koreans were expectedly shorter, by about 6 cm, than their peers living in the developed South. Similarly, premodern inhabitants of present-day South Korea, who produced a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita below the world average, were about 4 cm shorter than contemporary South Koreans, who have a mean income above the world average. Along similar lines, North Koreans, who have a GDP per capita akin to that of the premodern Joseon dynasty, have not improved much in height. On the contrary, mean heights of North Koreans were even slightly below (by about 2.4 cm) heights of Joseon dynasty Koreans. All in all, the heights follow a U-shaped pattern across time, wherein heights were lowest during the colonial era. Heights bounced back to Joseon dynasty levels during the interwar period, a time period where South Korea benefitted from international aid, only to rise again and surpass even premodern levels under South Korea's flourishing market economy.

The settler colonial roots and neoliberal afterlife of Problem Behavior Theory.

Problem Behavior Theory (PBT) is an influential psychosocial theory that has shaped-and continues to shape-much research on adolescent development in the United States and abroad. It is the product of over a half-century of research conducted by psychologists-cum-behavioral scientists Lee and Richard Jessor. This article engages two striking features of the history of PBT. First, it tracks how, and to what effect, a theory elaborated to explain the so-called "deviant behavior" of a group of Native Americans was extended to explain the "problem behavior" of white, middle-class, settler youth, before coming to circulate as a universal theory of adolescent behavior. Second, it explores how a theory that was meant to explain individual behaviors by connecting them to their larger social contexts came to be embraced by researchers who have been criticized for doing precisely the opposite. To do so, this article draws from Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies scholarship and sheds light on how the logics of settler colonialism and neoliberalism have participated in the coproduction of PBT and its reception.

Mahamari Plague: Rats, Colonial Medicine and Indigenous Knowledge in Kumaon and Garhwal, India.

Colonial approaches to animal and zoonotic diseases are often scrutinized in terms of their recognition or dismissal of indigenous knowledge. In this article I examine British colonial approaches to "Mahamari plague" in mid-nineteenth century Kumaon and Garhwal, in the Indian Himalayas. Discussing two key colonial medical expeditions in the region, I argue that the eventual recognition of the validity of Kumaoni and Garhwali knowledge of Mahamari and its relation to rats intensified intrusive colonial intervention on indigenous lifeways. I examine this neglected impact of the colonial recognition of indigenous knowledge and urge for approaches that place more emphasis on the practical impact of colonial epistemologies.

Gomastahs, Peons, Police and Chowdranies: The Role of Indian Subordinate in the Functioning of the Lock Hospitals and the Indian Contagious Diseases Act, 1805 to 1889.

Recent scholarship on the social history of health and medicine in colonial India has moved beyond enclavist or hegemonic aspects of imperial medicine and has rather focused on the role of Indian intermediaries and the fractured nature of colonial hegemony. Drawing inspiration from this scholarship, the article highlights the significance of the Indian subordinates in the lock hospital system in the nineteenth century Madras Presidency. This study focuses on a class of Indian subordinates called the "gomastah", who were employed to detect clandestine prostitution in Madras to control the spread of venereal disease. It also underlines the role of other native and non-native subordinates such as Dhais, Chowdranies and Matrons, the ways in which they became indispensable for the smoother operation of the Contagious Diseases Act and the lock hospitals on a day-to-day basis. By emphasising how Indian subordinates were able to bring in caste biases within colonial governmentality, adding another layer to the colonial prejudices and xenophobia against the native population, it underlines the fact that there was not a one-way appropriation or facilitation of the coloniser's knowledge or biases by the colonised intermediaries. Rather, it argues for an interaction between them, and highlights the complexities of caste hierarchies and prejudice within the everyday colonial governmentality. Moreover, the article focuses on the consequent chaos and inherent power struggle between different factions of colonial staff.

La universidad médica en Cuba durante la etapa colonial / The medical university in Cuba during the colonial period

RESUMEN Se realizó una investigación sobre la universidad médica en Cuba, incluyendo la enseñanza de la Medicina y la Estomatología, con el objetivo de explicar su evolución histórica durante la etapa colonial. Se enfatizó en las principales figuras que ejercieron en este período, las primeras publicaciones médicas, y las instituciones y centros asistenciales que regían la práctica de la medicina. Se concluye que la universidad médica en Cuba se fundó sobre una base escolástica y tradicionalista. A partir de 1842, la enseñanza de la Medicina se desarrolló con la creación de nuevos planes de estudios, el incremento de profesionales capacitados, la publicación de revistas científicas de alto prestigio, y la aparición de centros docentes de gran calidad (AU).

ABSTRACT A research was carried out on the medical university in Cuba, including the teaching of Medicine and Dentistry, with the aim of explaining its historical evolution during the colonial period. The authors emphasized the main figures who worked during this period, the first medical publications, and the institutions and healthcare centers that implemented the practice of medicine. It is concluded that the medical university in Cuba was founded on a scholastic and traditionalist basis. From 1842, the teaching of Medicine developed with the creation of new curricula, the increase of trained professionals, the publication of high-quality scientific journals, and the emergence of high-quality teaching centers (AU).

Seizing the Means of Reproduction? Canada, Cancer Screening, and the Colonial History of the Cytopipette.

In recent years, self-sampling has emerged as a compelling way of increasing cervical cancer screening rates within First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities. By allowing women to take their own samples in private, when and where they are most comfortable, home testing kits have been framed as a new, unequivocally feminist technology, and a panacea in Indigenous health. But are these techniques really as ethical and empowering as they have been made out to be? To answer this question, this article traces the history of the uptake and use of cervical cancer screening technologies in Canada. By tracing the mechanics and motivations of two state-sponsored cervical cancer screening studies carried out by Canada's Department of Indian Health Services during the mid to late twentieth century, this piece explores the settler-colonial roots of cancer surveillance, and shows how the implementation of both Pap-testing and DIY forms of screening within Indigenous communities has, at least historically, been more about enacting biopolitical regimes than promoting feminist ideals or improving health outcomes.

From settlements to the botanical garden: the appropriation of plants used by indigenous peoples in the captaincy of Guayases, 1772-1806. / Dos aldeamentos ao horto botânico: a apropriação de plantas de uso indígena na capitania de Guayases, 1772-1806.

The article intends to contribute to the history of science, indigenous history and the history of Portuguese America. We begin with the methodological assumptions of Dominique Pestre and the historiography on Portuguese America to investigate a network of indigenous settlements, the work of civil servants with naturalist knowledge, the shipment of botanical species for analysis in Portugal and, finally, the foundation of a botanical garden in the captaincy of Guayases (Goiás) from 1772 to 1806. We describe the indigenous contribution to the construction of natural history knowledge, and discuss the influence of Enlightenment concepts on the reform of the Portuguese colonial system in the captaincy based on Portuguese administrative documentation, letters and study of the application of laws and instructions.

O artigo pretende contribuir com a história das ciências, a história indígena e a história da América portuguesa. Parte-se dos pressupostos metodológicos de Dominique Pestre e da historiografia sobre a América portuguesa para interrogar a existência de uma rede de aldeamentos indígenas, a atuação de funcionários com saberes naturalistas, o envio de espécies botânicas para análise em Portugal e, por fim, a fundação de um horto botânico na capitania de Guayases (Goiás) entre 1772 e 1806. Apresenta-se a contribuição indígena na construção dos conhecimentos da história natural e discutem-se as influências de concepções da Ilustração na reforma do sistema colonial português na capitania a partir de documentação administrativa portuguesa, cartas e do estudo da aplicação de leis e instruções.

Dos aldeamentos ao horto botânico: a apropriação de plantas de uso indígena na capitania de Guayases, 1772-1806 / From settlements to the botanical garden: the appropriation of plants used by indigenous peoples in the captaincy of Guayases, 1772-1806

Resumo O artigo pretende contribuir com a história das ciências, a história indígena e a história da América portuguesa. Parte-se dos pressupostos metodológicos de Dominique Pestre e da historiografia sobre a América portuguesa para interrogar a existência de uma rede de aldeamentos indígenas, a atuação de funcionários com saberes naturalistas, o envio de espécies botânicas para análise em Portugal e, por fim, a fundação de um horto botânico na capitania de Guayases (Goiás) entre 1772 e 1806. Apresenta-se a contribuição indígena na construção dos conhecimentos da história natural e discutem-se as influências de concepções da Ilustração na reforma do sistema colonial português na capitania a partir de documentação administrativa portuguesa, cartas e do estudo da aplicação de leis e instruções.

Abstract The article intends to contribute to the history of science, indigenous history and the history of Portuguese America. We begin with the methodological assumptions of Dominique Pestre and the historiography on Portuguese America to investigate a network of indigenous settlements, the work of civil servants with naturalist knowledge, the shipment of botanical species for analysis in Portugal and, finally, the foundation of a botanical garden in the captaincy of Guayases (Goiás) from 1772 to 1806. We describe the indigenous contribution to the construction of natural history knowledge, and discuss the influence of Enlightenment concepts on the reform of the Portuguese colonial system in the captaincy based on Portuguese administrative documentation, letters and study of the application of laws and instructions.

Public mental health care in colonial Lesotho: themes emerging from archival material, 1918-35.

This paper identifies some of the themes that emerge from a study of official archival records from 1918 to 1934 on the subject of mental health in colonial Lesotho. They include: difficulties experienced by colonial medical doctors in diagnosing and treating mental illnesses, given the state of medical knowledge in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; impact of shortage of financial and other resources on the establishment and operation of medical services, especially mental health care; convergence of social order, financial and medical concerns as influences on colonial approaches to mental health care; and the question of whether Basotho colonial society saw institutionalization of their relatives as 'hospitalization' or 'imprisonment'. Two case studies are presented as preliminary explorations of some of the themes.

The Cholera Epidemic of 1907 and the Formation of Colonial Epidemic Control Systems in Korea.

It was in 1907 when Korea was annexed by Japan in the field of health care systems as the Gwangje Hospital, Uihakgyo the National Medical School and the Korean Red Cross Hospital were merged into the colonial Daehan Hospital, and massive cholera epidemic controls by the Japanese Army were enforced. However, despite their importance, the cholera epidemic of 1907 in Korea and preventive measures taken at that time have not yet been studied extensively as a single research subject. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a more concrete and broader understanding of the Korea-Japan annexation of health care systems under the rule of the Japanese Resident-General of Korea by revealing new facts and correcting existing errors. In 1907, cholera was transmitted to Korea from China and Japan and spread across the Korean Peninsula, resulting in a major public health crisis, perhaps one of the most serious cholera outbreaks in the twentieth century Korea. Although Busan and Pyeongyang were the cities most infected with cholera, the targets for the most intensive interventions were Gyeongseong (Seoul) and Incheon, where the Japanese Crown Prince were supposed to make a visit. The Japanese police commissioner took several anti-cholera preventive measures in Gyeongseong, including searching out patients, disinfecting and blocking infected areas, and isolating the confirmed or suspected. Nevertheless, cholera was about to be rampant especially among Japanese residents. In this situation, Ito Hirobumi, the first Resident-General of Korea, organized the temporary cholera control headquarters to push ahead the visit of the Japanese Crown Prince for his political purposes to colonize Korea. To dispel Emperor Meiji's concerns, Ito had to appoint Sato Susumu, the famous Japanese Army Surgeon General, as an advisor, since he had much credit at Court. In addition, as the Japanese-led Korean police lacked epidemic control ability and experience, the headquarters became an improvised organization commanded by the Japanese Army in Korea and wielded great influence on the formation of the colonial disease control systems. Its activities were forced, violent, and negligent, and many Korean people were quite uncooperative in some anti-cholera measures. As a result, the Japanese Army in Korea took the initiative away from the Korean police in epidemic controls, serving the heavy-handed military policy of early colonial period. In short, the cholera epidemic and its control in 1907 were important events that shaped the direction of Japan's colonial rule.

'Psychosis of civilization': a colonial-situated diagnosis.

In the late 1930s, when colonial psychiatry was well established in the Maghreb, the diagnosis 'psychosis of civilization' appeared in some psychiatrists' writings. Through the clinical case of a Libyan woman treated by the Italian psychiatrist Angelo Bravi in Tripoli, this article explores its emergence and its specificity in a differential approach, and highlights its main characteristics. The term applied to subjects poised between two worlds: incapable of becoming 'like' Europeans - a goal to which they seem to aspire - but too far from their 'ancestral habits' to revert for a quiet life. The visits of these subjects to colonial psychiatric institutions, provided valuable new material for psychiatrists: to see how colonization impacted inner life and to raise awareness of the long-term socio-political dangers.