In this chapter we address colonial perceptions of African botanical knowledge and healing practices as expressed in the writings of two different social actors, both connected with the Portuguese empire in the Indian Ocean, both living in the island of Chiloane (Sofala, Mozambique) in the 1870s: Arthur Ignacio da Gama, a graduate of the Medical School of Goa (India) placed in Sofala in 1876; and Ezequiel da Silva, a third-generation Portuguese local teacher whose ancestors had first moved from Portugal to Macau (China) and from there to Mozambique. We analyze their writings within the context of the shifting European imperial politics in Africa and within a large-scale circulation of people, things, elements of knowledge, practices, and experiences across the Indian Ocean. They stand for distinct styles of circulation through the Indian Ocean: Arthur Ignacio da Gama was part of a flow of Goan skilled professionals who sought work outside Goa and saw themselves as part of a project of civilizing the world using modern standards, European medicine among them; Ezequiel da Silva belonged to the more mobile group of Indian-Ocean-born Eurodescendants who lived close to local populations and used local knowledge for practical purposes, including healing.
...MoreBook Anna Winterbottom; Facil Tesfaye (2016) Histories of Medicine and Healing in the Indian Ocean World, Volume Two: The Modern Period.
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