Sujata Mukherjee
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199468225
- eISBN:
- 9780199087426
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199468225.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Indian History, Cultural History
This chapter shows how in the context of the growth of a new paradigm of medical knowledge based on anatomical dissection hospital medicine became more important than bedside medicine in colonial ...
More
This chapter shows how in the context of the growth of a new paradigm of medical knowledge based on anatomical dissection hospital medicine became more important than bedside medicine in colonial India and female (as also the male) patients were subjected to an institutionally validated gaze. The earliest institutions devoted to women’s health were lock hospitals, which treated prostitutes suspected to be suffering from venereal diseases. The Contagious Diseases Act of 1868 required the prostitutes to register who were subjected to different kinds of crude and obnoxious medical examinations and were kept under filthy conditions in lock hospitals. Lying-in hospitals also treated female patients belonging to different communities. Throughout the nineteenth century, however, the number of female patients attending hospitals remained very low—a fact which strengthened the view in different circles that Indian women were averse to treatment by male physicians.Less
This chapter shows how in the context of the growth of a new paradigm of medical knowledge based on anatomical dissection hospital medicine became more important than bedside medicine in colonial India and female (as also the male) patients were subjected to an institutionally validated gaze. The earliest institutions devoted to women’s health were lock hospitals, which treated prostitutes suspected to be suffering from venereal diseases. The Contagious Diseases Act of 1868 required the prostitutes to register who were subjected to different kinds of crude and obnoxious medical examinations and were kept under filthy conditions in lock hospitals. Lying-in hospitals also treated female patients belonging to different communities. Throughout the nineteenth century, however, the number of female patients attending hospitals remained very low—a fact which strengthened the view in different circles that Indian women were averse to treatment by male physicians.
Sujata Mukherjee
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199468225
- eISBN:
- 9780199087426
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199468225.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Indian History, Cultural History
This book analyses the interface between medicine and colonial society through the lens of gender. Based on hitherto unused primary sources the work traces how since almost the beginning of the ...
More
This book analyses the interface between medicine and colonial society through the lens of gender. Based on hitherto unused primary sources the work traces how since almost the beginning of the nineteenth century the growth of hospital medicine in Bengal created a space—albeit small—for providing Western health care to female patients. It observes that, unlike in the colonial setup, before the advent of hospital medicine women were treated mostly by female practitioners of indigenous therapies who had commendable skill as practitioners. The book also explores the linkages of growth of medical education for women and the role of the Indian reformers as well as British administrators in this process. The manuscript tackles several crucial questions including those of racial discrimination, reproductive health practices, sexual health, famines and mortality, and the role of women’s agencies and other organizations in popularizing Western medicine and health care. Thus this work, explores the different processes which contributed towards the shaping of the discursive domain of medicine with a bearing on women’s health as well as highlights different dimensions of empirical developments. In the process it enriches our understanding of colonialism, gender, and politics of medicine in the nineteenth and twentieth century in a novel way.Less
This book analyses the interface between medicine and colonial society through the lens of gender. Based on hitherto unused primary sources the work traces how since almost the beginning of the nineteenth century the growth of hospital medicine in Bengal created a space—albeit small—for providing Western health care to female patients. It observes that, unlike in the colonial setup, before the advent of hospital medicine women were treated mostly by female practitioners of indigenous therapies who had commendable skill as practitioners. The book also explores the linkages of growth of medical education for women and the role of the Indian reformers as well as British administrators in this process. The manuscript tackles several crucial questions including those of racial discrimination, reproductive health practices, sexual health, famines and mortality, and the role of women’s agencies and other organizations in popularizing Western medicine and health care. Thus this work, explores the different processes which contributed towards the shaping of the discursive domain of medicine with a bearing on women’s health as well as highlights different dimensions of empirical developments. In the process it enriches our understanding of colonialism, gender, and politics of medicine in the nineteenth and twentieth century in a novel way.
