The Colour of Disease

Syphilis and Racism in South Africa, 1880-1950

K. Jochelson

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2001
• Print ISBN: 9780333740446
• eBook ISBN: 9780333992661
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Asian History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Today AIDS dominates the headlines. A century ago it was fears of syphilis epidemics. This book looks at how the spread of syphilis was linked to socio-economic transformation land dispossession, migrancy and urbanisation disrupted social networks - factors similarly important in the AIDS crisis. Medical explanations of syphilis and state medical policy, however, were shaped by contemporary beliefs about race. Doctors drew on ideas from social Darwinism, eugenics, and social anthropology to explain the incidence of syphilis among poor whites and Africans, especially women, and to help define 'normal' and abnormal sexual behaviour for racial groups.

Table of contents

• Cover
• The Colour of Disease
• Contents
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 Tracking Down the Treponema, 1880–1910
• 2 From Paupers to Pass Laws: Control of VD in the Cape and Transvaal, 1880–1910
• 3 VD and the ‘Poor White’ Problem in the 1920s and 1930s
• 4 VD Treatment and Educational Propaganda for Whites, 1910–1930s
• 5 Migrancy, Prostitution and VD, 1920–50
• 6 Moral Tribes and Corrupting Cities: VD and the ‘Native Question’, 1920–50
• 7 VD Treatment and Educational Propaganda for Africans, 1910–50
• 8 Conclusion
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Notes and References
• Bibliography
• Index