Histories of Medicine and Healing in the Indian Ocean World, Volume One - The Medieval and Early Modern Period

This interdisciplinary work, the first of two volumes, presents essays on various aspects of disease, medicine, and healing in different locations in and around the Indian Ocean from the ninth century to the early modern period. Themes include theoretical explanations for disease, concepts of fertility, material culture, healing in relation to diplomacy and colonialism, public health, and the health of slaves and migrant workers. Overall, the books argue that, throughout the period of study, the Indian Ocean has been the site of multiple interconnected medical interactions that may be viewed in the context of the environmental factors connecting the region. The two volumes are the first to use the Indian Ocean World as a geographical and conceptual framework for the study of disease. It will appeal to academics and graduate students working in the fields of medical and scientific history, as well as in the growing fields of Indian Ocean studies and global history.

Anna Winterbottom is a British Academy Research Fellow at the Centre for World Environmental History, University of Sussex and Research Associate of the Indian Ocean World Centre, McGill, Canada. She is author of Hybrid Knowledge in the Early East India Company World  and co-editor of The East India Company and the Natural World.

Facil Tesfaye is an Assistant Professor and Director of the African Studies Programme of the University of Hong Kong. He is the author of Statistique(s) et génocide au Rwanda: La genèse d'un système de catégorisation génocidaire.