Health, Healing and Illness in African History

In this book, Rebekah Lee offers a critical introduction to the diverse history of health, healing and illness in sub-Saharan Africa from the 1800s to the present day. Its focus is not simply on disease but rather on how illness and health were understood and managed: by healthcare providers, African patients, their families and communities. Through a sustained interdisciplinary approach, Lee brings to the foreground a cast of actors, institutions and ideas that both profoundly and intimately shaped African health experiences and outcomes. This book guides the reader through a wide range of historical source material, and highlights the theoretical and methodological innovations which have enriched this scholarship. Part One delivers a concise historical overview of African health and illness from the long pre-colonial past through the colonial period and into the present day, providing an understanding of broad patterns of major disease challenges, experiences of illness, and local and global health interventions and their persistence or transformation across time. Part Two adopts a case study approach, focusing on specific health challenges in Africa HIV/AIDS, mental illness, tropical disease and occupational disease and their unfolding across time and space. Health, Healing and Illness in African History is the first wide-ranging survey of this key topic in African history and the history of health and medicine, and the ideal introduction for students.