“Such a book is overdue…(It) is precisely written, accessible, eminently readable, and, as I have found out, can be effectively deployed as an effective teaching tool.”
Julie Parle, University of KwaZulu-Natal
This is the first history of epidemics in South Africa, lethal episodes that significantly shaped this society over three centuries. Focusing on five devastating diseases between 1713 and today—smallpox, bubonic plague, “Spanish influenza,” polio, and HIV/AIDS—the book probes their origins, their catastrophic courses, and their consequences in both the short and long terms. The impacts of these epidemics ranged from the demographic—the “Spanish flu,” for instance, claimed the lives of six percent of the country’s population in six weeks—to the political, the social, the economic, the spiritual, the psychological, and the cultural. Moreover, as each of these epidemics occurred at crucial moments in the country’s history—such as during the South African War and World War I—the book also examines how these processes affected and were affected by the five epidemics. To those who read this book, history will not look the same again.
Howard Phillips is a professor in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town, where he pioneered research in and the teaching of the social history of medicine and disease. He is the author or coauthor of numerous works, including “Black October”: The Impact of the Spanish Influenza Epidemic of 1918 on South Africa. More info →
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Paperback
978-0-8214-2028-7
Retail price: $16.95,
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Release date: September 2012
168 pages
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Electronic
978-0-8214-4442-9
Release date: September 2012
168 pages
Rights: World except SADC
Steve Biko inspired a generation of black South Africans to claim their true identity and refuse to be a part of their own oppression. Through his example, he demonstrated fearlessness and self-esteem, and he led a black student movement countrywide that challenged and thwarted the culture of fear perpetuated by the apartheid regime. He paid the highest price with his life. The brutal circumstances of his death shocked the world and helped isolate his oppressors.This
Biography, Activists · African History · African Studies · South Africa
Healing Traditions
African Medicine, Cultural Exchange, and Competition in South Africa, 1820–1948
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Healing Traditions offers a historical perspective to the interactions between South Africa’s traditional healers and biomedical practitioners. It provides an understanding that is vital for the development of medical strategies to effectively deal with South Africa’s healthcare challenges.
African History · History of Science · Medical | Health Policy · South Africa · African Studies
The African AIDS Epidemic
A History
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This history of the African AIDS epidemic is a much-needed, accessibly written historical account of the most serious epidemiological catastrophe of modern times. The African AIDS Epidemic: A History answers President Thabo Mbeki’s provocative question as to why Africa has suffered this terrible epidemic.While Mbeki attributed the causes to poverty and exploitation, others have looked to distinctive sexual systems practiced in African cultures and communities.
African History · HIV-AIDS · Medical | Health Policy · History | Modern | 20th Century · African Studies · Africa
Making and Unmaking Public Health in Africa
Ethnographic and Historical Perspectives
Edited by Ruth J. Prince and Rebecca Marsland
Making and Unmaking Public Health in Africa explores how medical professionals and patients, government officials, and ordinary citizens approach questions of public health as they navigate contemporary landscapes of NGOs and transnational projects, faltering state services, and expanding privatization.
African History · African Studies · Africa · Anthropology · Medical | Health Policy
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