Colonizing the Body- Praapthi

 

Studying the state’s response to the cholera epidemic that plagued India in the late 19th century in many ways helps us understand better the dynamics that prevailed between the colonizer and the colonized. It is likely that this is what David Arnold meant when he called cholera a “highly political disease”. 

Cholera established a clear polarity between the state and subject; between the West and the colonized South Asia, reflecting a clash between Western medicine and its Indian counterpart that intensified a pre-existing conflict. Unlike many other diseases before, cholera adamantly remained unresponsive to both. Moreover, the elusiveness and unpredictability of the disease, which you will find in this blog, posed a unique challenge to medical professionals and the State. This meant they could not approach it with their usual formulae of scientific rationality. Thus, the notion of superiority associated with Western medicine was momentarily questioned, cholera effectively shaking the bedrock that sustained this assumption. It was like a blow to their ego, one could even venture to say.

Still, meticulous attempts were made, as can be seen in Hankin’s account of the outbreak in the mess. The British went forth with their incessant mapping and recording, experimenting, and examining. Hankin takes us through every detail of the kitchen in an attempt to point at a possible source, from the handles of vessels used to the loincloths of the cooks. Inspections like these are telling of the larger trend of scientific approaches carried out by the West and in this case the State.

There also came to be a close association of cholera with the Hindu pilgrimage, after observing the Haridwar Kumbh Mela of 1867. However, the State resisted imposing direct restrictions for fear of mass discontent. This, alongside blurry understandings of its pathogenesis, caused interpretations of the disease to take on more cultural and social tones, causing the affected body to become the “ideal site for colonization of the body”. 

 

“Source: Leonard Rogers, ‘The Forecasting and Control of Cholera Epidemics in India’, Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, 75 (3874) (1927): 323.”