Article
ID: CBB452955791

‘These Are the Medicines That “Make” Monsters’: Thalidomide in Southern Africa, 1958–1962 (2020)

unapi
Colonialism Pharmacy Thalidomide 20th century, late South Africa Namibia Zimbabwe Mozambique Angola

Thalidomide is amongst the most notorious drugs of all time. The majority of accounts of its distribution to the early 1960s focus on those countries where thalidomide caused the most extensive damage, most notably in economically developed countries. This article raises, however, questions about intended, explored, initiated or sometimes thwarted markets for thalidomide-containing preparations outside ‘the West’. It does so by focusing on Southern African markets for thalidomide, particularly those in Angola, Mozambique, (now) Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. We place differences in the drug’s distribution channels in the context of the political economies of pharmaceuticals markets in the region in the decades after World War 2 and argue that colonial legacies and circuits of commerce can contribute to an understanding of why some regions ‘escaped a thalidomide disaster’. Finally, from late 1961 through 1962, we chart Southern African attempts to establish, or deny, the local presence of the teratogen.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB452955791/

Similar Citations

Book Hughes, David McDermott; (2006)
From Enslavement to Environmentalism: Politics on a South African Frontier (/isis/citation/CBB000930062/)

Article Hugo Silveira Pereira; (2023)
The Camera and the Railway: Framing the Portuguese Empire and Technological Landscapes in Angola and Mozambique, 1880s–1910s (/isis/citation/CBB732384908/)

Article Hugo Silveira Pereira; (2018)
Colonial Railways and Conflict Resolution Between Portugal and the United Kingdom in Africa (c. 1880–early 1900s) (/isis/citation/CBB278915012/)

Article Luis Pequito Antunes; (2016)
Maria Corinta Ferreira (1922–2003?), “Naturalist at the Museu Dr. Álvaro De Castro, Lourenço Marques [Now Maputo], Mozambique,” 1949–1974 (/isis/citation/CBB345816053/)

Article Filipe Calvão; (2017)
The Company Oracle: Corporate Security and Diviner-Detectives in Angola's Diamond Mines (/isis/citation/CBB860117991/)

Article Varanda, Jorge; Cleveland, Todd; (2014)
(Un)healthy Relationships: African Labourers, Profits and Health Services in Angola's Colonial-Era Diamond Mines, 1917--75 (/isis/citation/CBB001320609/)

Book Hecht, Gabrielle; (2011)
Entangled Geographies: Empire and Technopolitics in the Global Cold War (/isis/citation/CBB001251047/)

Article Hannaford, Matthew J.; Bigg, Grant R.; Jones, Julie M.; Phimister, Ian; Staub, Martial; (2014)
Climate Variability and Societal Dynamics in Pre-Colonial Southern African History (AD 900--1840): A Synthesis and Critique (/isis/citation/CBB001421415/)

Book Parés, Luis Nicolau; Sansi-Roca, Roger; (2011)
Sorcery in the Black Atlantic (/isis/citation/CBB001212790/)

Article Leedy, Todd; (2010)
“A Starving Belly Doesn't Listen to Explanations”: Agricultural Evangelism in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1900 to 1962 (/isis/citation/CBB001021193/)

Article Raposo, Pedro M. P.; (2015)
Time, Weather and Empires: The Campos Rodrigues Observatory in Lourenço Marques, Mozambique (1905--1930) (/isis/citation/CBB001551173/)

Article Francis Lee; (2022)
Detecting the unknown in a sea of knowns: Health surveillance, knowledge infrastructures, and the quest for classification egress (/isis/citation/CBB635892993/)

Article SELBY HEARTH; (2024)
Geologists as Colonial Scouts: The Rogers Expedition to Otavi and Tsumeb, Namibia, 1892–1895 (/isis/citation/CBB799232063/)

Article Selby Hearth; (2021)
The 'world's greatest mineral locality': Haiǁom, Ndonga, Herero, and the early colonial histories of Tsumeb, Namibia (/isis/citation/CBB730837162/)

Thesis Maria do Mar de Mello Gago da Silva; (2018)
Robusta Empire: Coffee, Scientists and the Making of Colonial Angola (1898-1961) (/isis/citation/CBB712303405/)

Article Varanda, Jorge; (2014)
Cuidados biomédicos de saúde em Angola e na Companhia de Diamantes de Angola, c. 1910--1970 (/isis/citation/CBB001420724/)

Article Martin Kalb; (2020)
Water, Sand, Molluscs: Imperial Infrastructures, the Age of Hydrology, and German Colonialism in Swakopmund, Southwest Africa, 1884-1915 (/isis/citation/CBB612807033/)

Article Achim von Oppen; (2019)
Moving Along, Moving Across, Moving in Time: Linear Geographies, Translocal Practices, and the Making of the "Barotse Boundary," ca. 1890 to 1925 (/isis/citation/CBB777738438/)

Article Noel Ndumeya; (2020)
Conserving Wildlife Resources in Zimbabwe: Reflections on Chirinda Forest, 1920s-1979 (/isis/citation/CBB478247589/)

Book Jackson, Lynette; (2005)
Surfacing Up: Psychiatry and Social Order in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1908--1968 (/isis/citation/CBB000742139/)

Authors & Contributors
Pereira, Hugo Silveira
Selby Hearth
Varanda, Jorge
Antunes, Luis Pequito
Calvão, Filipe
Noel Ndumeya
Journals
Environment and History
HOST: Journal of History of Science and Technology
Earth Sciences History: Journal of the History of the Earth Sciences Society
Technology and Culture
Science in Context
Medical History
Publishers
University of Washington Press
University of Chicago Press
MIT Press
Cornell University Press
Universidade de Lisboa
Concepts
Colonialism
Portugal, colonies
Great Britain, colonies
Mines and mining
Imperialism
Indigenous peoples; indigeneity
People
Maria Corinta Ferreira
Time Periods
20th century, early
19th century
20th century, late
20th century
Early modern
Modern
Places
Angola
South Africa
Mozambique
Zimbabwe
Namibia
Africa
Institutions
South West Africa Company (SWACO)
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment

Creative Commons License REST API