Re-writing race in early modern European medicine

TY - JOUR

T1 - Re-writing race in early modern European medicine

AU - Murphy, Hannah

N1 - Funding Information: This article was made possible by the financial support of the UKRI FLF Grant: MR/T041528/1 ?Medicine and the Making of Race, 1440-1720?. I am grateful to Elaine Leong for commissioning this piece, to the two anonymous peer reviewers whose generous readings enriched it, to Craig Koslofsky for fruitful conversations, and to my colleagues and friends for comments, in particular Evelyn Welch, Paolo Savoia and Sebestian Kroupa on the King's College London, Renaissance Skin team. Funding Information: This article was made possible by the financial support of the UKRI FLF Grant: MR/T041528/1 “Medicine and the Making of Race, 1440‐1720”. I am grateful to Elaine Leong for commissioning this piece, to the two anonymous peer reviewers whose generous readings enriched it, to Craig Koslofsky for fruitful conversations, and to my colleagues and friends for comments, in particular Evelyn Welch, Paolo Savoia and Sebestian Kroupa on the King's College London, Renaissance Skin team. 1 Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. History Compass published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2021/11

Y1 - 2021/11

N2 - This short article explores the role of medical practitioners from across Europe in the practice of slavery and in the making of early modern race. Medical practitioners were present from the earliest moments of European encounters with African slavery. As the slave trade developed, their participation developed and became more formal. From their role on board ship, to their bureaucratic role in the process of inspecting enslaved peoples, to their practices within colonial administration, the nascent arena of the slave trade depended on a transnational network of medical practitioners. The politics of their expertise linked the practice of slavery with the production of scientific ideas about race. Drawing together the current literature along two lines of theory and practice, I suggest that the construction of the slave trade relied on thousands of such medical encounters. Examining this process reveals a history of enslavement and race as intimate practices, defined in a case-by-case manner, by people, rather than systems. Ultimately, I suggest that thinking about medicine and slavery through categories of knowledge and practice provides insight into the intimate and embodied way in which racial categories of difference were constructed.

AB - This short article explores the role of medical practitioners from across Europe in the practice of slavery and in the making of early modern race. Medical practitioners were present from the earliest moments of European encounters with African slavery. As the slave trade developed, their participation developed and became more formal. From their role on board ship, to their bureaucratic role in the process of inspecting enslaved peoples, to their practices within colonial administration, the nascent arena of the slave trade depended on a transnational network of medical practitioners. The politics of their expertise linked the practice of slavery with the production of scientific ideas about race. Drawing together the current literature along two lines of theory and practice, I suggest that the construction of the slave trade relied on thousands of such medical encounters. Examining this process reveals a history of enslavement and race as intimate practices, defined in a case-by-case manner, by people, rather than systems. Ultimately, I suggest that thinking about medicine and slavery through categories of knowledge and practice provides insight into the intimate and embodied way in which racial categories of difference were constructed.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85118297622&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/hic3.12692

DO - 10.1111/hic3.12692

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85118297622

SN - 1478-0542

VL - 19

JO - History Compass

JF - History Compass

IS - 11

M1 - e12692

ER -